Lee Garrett - Bachelorette 13 - **Sleuthing Spoilers**

AllAboutLove wrote:CH and co stating "none of us were aware" is essentially them admitting they don't vet these contestants at all (not that hard to scroll through someone's Twitter account) and his tweet only makes them look look worse IMO.

Going by the reply comments to CH's tweet it seems most people are calling BS on CH's tweet and how TPTB claim they didn't know when it's public info so they either knew and didn't care or they didn't care to know (find out).

Either way, I think it just sums up how much TPTB don't care at all about any of these contestants or leads (not that I ever thought they did).  

When and why did you decide to audition for The Bachelorette?

I was actually scouted in Nashville. I got a message on Facebook from one of the show scouts saying, “Lee! What would you think if I asked if you would be interested to try out for The Bachelorette?”

MissSid wrote:

When and why did you decide to audition for The Bachelorette?

I was actually scouted in Nashville. I got a message on Facebook from one of the show scouts saying, “Lee! What would you think if I asked if you would be interested to try out for The Bachelorette?”

Source: Controversial 'Bachelorette' Contestant Lee Garrett Reveals How He Was Cast

So, while I genuinely like many of the producers, I have a hard time believing Lee‘s presence on this show is a complete accident. If you’re the sort of involved and informed viewer who even reads these recaps, by now you have surely heard about the uncovering of his two years’ worth of offensive tweets, and Chris Harrison’s subsequent denial that production knew about them. And let me just reiterate that the casting process for this show is intense. The second round, long before you become one of the chosen few to be flown to L.A. to meet producers, is a massive, 30-page background check. I remember filling it out in my apartment in Germany and ticking boxes saying, no, I’d never done porn, and no, I’d never been arrested. I remember scratching my head trying to remember every past address, and which friend I’d entrust to be my high school reference. This stuck out to me as I was 28 at the time and had been out of high school for a decade, and I told almost no one that I was doing this since the odds of making the show at that point were still so low. In that final round in L.A., the questions you’re asked is in the ballpark of many hundreds, mostly in writing, but also in person by producers, the show’s psychiatrist, its doctor and a background check guy. My point is, the process is nothing short of exceedingly thorough, and combing through one’s social media is now a basic step in dating, hiring and yes, reality-TV casting. Even if, when he met producers, he was an Academy Award-deserving actor (which, based on what I’ve seen of him on the show, he isn’t), there is a zero percent chance they didn’t have at least an inkling of Lee’s disturbing points of the view.

While I get the appeal of such guaranteed drama in the form of a white, sexist, racist country singer living in a house full of black men, vying for the affections of a black woman, it makes me ill. It taints something groundbreaking and momentous that goes beyond reality television, and feels very two-steps-forward-one-step-back. And frankly, many of these guys’ personalities are so big, I have no doubt I’d be entertained nonetheless and that drama would unfold naturally by basic personality clashing. (Sad how that concept sounds so innocent now.) Worst of all, it’s not like Lee’s opinions are only his. The show has gotten flak for years for underrepresenting minorities, but trust me, it’s not production. The producers I’ve known are as openminded and forward-thinking as anyone. It’s that a substantial chunk of this franchise’s core viewership isn’t like that. They’ve finally made such a wonderful leap forward, yet infected it with a cancerous contestant who, right now especially, we know is not alone in his backwards beliefs. And even if they’re painting him badly, which they are and should be, they’re still putting him on our screens and giving him airtime with many millions of Americans, some of whom might actually agree with and support him. He doesn’t deserve to receive that, and they don’t deserve to see someone they relate to. Get him off my television.