ABC Greer Blitzer
“Bachelor” contestant Greer Blitzer has been accused of making an offensive comment in a new race-based controversy.
Blitzer is a contestant on the current season of “The Bachelor.” In fact, Bachelor Zach Shallcross gave her his First Impression rose. But it wasn’t long before a set of controversies sprang up, with one of them leading to an apology by Blitzer on Instagram.
Shortly after that apology, a new controversy broke out over a comment Blitzer made to a contestant of Indian heritage, Lekha Ravi, according to The Sun. Ravi has had her own comment get attention; she is accused of calling Shallcross boring and vanilla.
Here’s what you need to know:
Blitzer Is Accused of Telling a Contestant, ‘I Thought You Were White’
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According to The Sun, Blitzer was accused of making an “offensive comment” to contestant Lekha Ravi during the show’s filming, but the scene was cut from the program before it aired.
Greer’s comment was made the day that contestants arrived at the mansion, according to The Sun, with a source telling the publication, “Lekha was talking to the women about how she wanted to do something different for her first impression.”
“She wanted to present Zach with a flower garland, which is tradition in her culture,” the source told The Sun, which reported that Ravi is Indian-American. “Greer then said to her, ‘Oh, you’re Indian? I thought you were white. You look white.'”
According to the Sun’s source, Ravi was “shocked and thrown off by the comment.”
“She didn’t know what to say back to Greer,” the Sun reported.
Blitzer Previously Apologized for Defending Blackface in an Old Tweet
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Blitzer previously issued an apology on her Instagram page after she defended a student who dressed in Blackface for Halloween.
“The journey to love is filled with lessons and these lessons are also made on our journey of growth,” she wrote in the apology post. “In my past, I have made some uneducated, ignorant and frankly, wrong comments on my social media accounts. In particular, I used misguided arguments on Twitter to defend a student who dressed in Blackface as Tupac for Halloween.”
“I am deeply sorry to those I have hurt, especially those within the Black community, not because these screenshots have resurfaced, but because I ever shared these harmful opinions at all,” she continued.
According to her Bachelor Nation biography, Ravi “is a woman of the world! She was born in Chennai, India, and moved to the United States at 7 years old. Since then, she’s lived in California, North Carolina, New York and Florida.”
The biography continues:
It may take a little while for Lekha to come out of her shell, but her exuberant personality and top-notch belly dancing skills are worth the wait! Lekha is ready to find “the one,” and while her parent’s marriage was arranged, they are supportive of her journey to find love and happiness in her own way! Her close-knit family has her excited to start a family of her own. She can’t wait to meet Zach and says, ‘I want nothing more than to be a great mom and find my person to share a life with.’
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