‘Bachelorette’ Host Chris Harrison Speaks Out on This Season’s Controversies
Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette has seen its share of off-screen controversies, and as the show nears its finale, host Chris Harrison is speaking out about how the involved contestants, Lincoln Adim and Garrett Yrigoyen, will factor into the Men Tell All reunion special.
Adim, for one, was not invited. “I did not want him here nor did he deserve to earn the right to be here,” Harrison told ET at the special’s recent taping. “I’m very glad that he was not here and he was not extended an invitation.”
In June, it was revealed that, one week before The Bachelorette’s May 28 premiere, Adim had been convicted of indecent assault and battery for a 2016 incident in which he was accused of groping and assaulting a woman. The show completed filming before the news broke, and Adim remained on the show until his elimination a few weeks later. Warner Bros. Television claimed to have no knowledge of the conviction, despite thorough background checks.
Adim’s scandal followed another controversy surrounding hateful Instagram activity from contestant Garrett Yrigoyen. The week of the premiere, he was found to have liked Instagram posts condemning Parkland students and mocking immigrants and the trans community.
Yrigoyen quickly issued an apology for his actions via a new Instagram account, while Kufrin gave various interviews in which she asked viewers to keep an open mind.
“One thing I do wanna clear up too is that Garrett and Lincoln should not be in the same sentence,” Harrison said of Yrigoyen, who remains one of the final two contestants and so did not appear on the reunion special. “Garrett did something that you don’t agree with, or that a lot of people don’t agree with. And that’s fine, that is your prerogative, and it might be mine too. That’s not against the law. What Lincoln did was against the law.”
The Men Tell All reunion special will air on Monday, July 30, and Kufrin will give out her final rose on the Monday, August 6, season finale.
What do you think about Lincoln not being invited to the reunion? Let us know @BritandCo.
(photo via Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for dcp)