The Bachelor casts Matt James as the first Black male lead in its 18-year history

Though James had been, as ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke stated in a recent press release, “on [the network’s] radar since February” after originally being chosen to compete prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, it ultimately took alumni-led backlash to arrive at this point. Previous Bachelorette star and only other Black lead, Rachel Lindsay, called for the franchise to examine its own bias in a viral blog post, which inspired a petition urging the network to cast its second Black star. Lindsay, if you recall, had to deal with her own share of racism when a contestant from her season was exposed for past racist tweets. Additionally, The Bachelor Nation was in the spotlight recently when former lead Hannah Brown was rightfully criticized for singing along to the N-word on Instagram Live, which Lindsey also had to address.

And none of this even comes close to the weeks of global protesting against the murder of George Floyd, which has sparked an industry-wide reckoning with its complicity in systemic racism, leading to a number of firings, lost endorsements, and late-arriving policy changes. While Burke is careful not to say that any of this had a direct impact on the network’s choice to position James as the lead, she did promise that the network will “continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise,” and that the company feels “so privileged to have Matt as our first Black Bachelor.” We, too, are excited, but should it have required this much strife to accomplish something so simple? Probably not.

Looking for ways to advocate for Black lives? Check out this list of resources by our sister site Lifehacker for ways to get involved.