ABC Hannah Brown and the cast of season 15 of 'The Bachelorette.'
Garrett Powell is being lambasted by Bachelor Nation for comments he made on Instagram to a woman who identified herself as a survivor of rape.
Powell, 29, was one of the final six contestants competing for Hannah Brown’s heart in season 15 of The Bachelorette. The golf pro is best remembered on the show for butting heads with the season’s villain, Luke Parker, but now Powell is in trouble of his own.
In a thread on Instagram (that has since been deleted, but can be seen in a screenshot here), Powell got in an argument with a commenter who claimed she is a rape survivor.
The exchange began as a discussion about women’s reproductive rights. The woman brought up the issue of rape, asking if Powell thinks women who are raped are to blame for their assault.
“so have you gotten raped before?” Powell asked the woman, who then said that she has.
Powell responded by demanding details about the woman’s assault. “by whom? When? Why haven’t you reported it? I think you’re full of it,” he wrote.
He followed that with another comment: “let me save you the trouble. You haven’t gotten raped. You aren’t old enough to know how Capitalism is going to benefit you. All you do is repeat what the media says with no understanding of your own. Grow up, and contact me in 5-7 years.”
Powell Has Deleted His Social Media Accounts
Powell eventually deleted the controversial post then shared a video that showed him apologizing for the comments. Later, he deleted all of his prior Instagram posts, leaving only the apology video.
“I really, really, really screwed up and I’m really sorry,” Powell said in the video. “I’ve always said I’m the type of person who appreciates getting called out, and I got called out. I needed to get called out. My words were awful and they help nobody. Period.”
That video is now gone, along with Powell’s Instagram profile. He also deleted his Twitter account.
Powell Has a History of Expressing Controversial Views on Social Media
Powell’s now-deleted biography on ABC.com said that the pro golfer is “really just a humble country boy enjoying life in Alabama.” While he openly expressed his conservative beliefs on social media, his recent comments weren’t the first that some have found offensive.
In May 2019, shortly after season 15 of The Bachelorette began, Betches.com posted a compilation of Powell’s most questionable social media activity.
The article showed one meme liked by Powell that read “There are only two genders” and “Guns don’t kill people…people do,” among other beliefs. Another Instagram meme liked by Powell equated climate change with “unicorns, Superman, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” and “the tooth fairy.”
In a 2015 tweet, Powell wrote “Whites, blacks, greens, blues, reds are all in prisons because they cannot do the right thing NOT b/c of any sort of racism or prejudice.”
Powell hasn’t been seen in The Bachelor franchise since the “Men Tell All” episode of his season of The Bachelorette.
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Former ‘Bachelorette’ Contestant Apologizes for Mocking Rape Survivor