The Court Dismisses Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against ABC’s “The Bachelor”.
The suit was originally filed back in April by two black guys, Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson, who claimed that they were discriminated against during tryouts for the show “The Bachelor”. They say that they weren’t just not called back but they were treated differently. To further prove their point they pointed out that the first 16 seasons of “The Bachelor” featured all white men and that “The Bachelorette” also never had a black guy selected as the winner.
Judge Aleta Trauger, a Federal judge, basically said that it was the television producers and the network’s First Amendment right to choose whoever they want and that the case had no merit. Per freedom of speech, you can’t regulate the content of the show. That was ultimately my position in my posting back in April where I revealed what the two look like.
Trauger’s official position was summarized in writing,
“Ultimately, whatever messages ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette’ communicate or are intended to communicate — whether explicitly, implicitly, intentionally, or otherwise — the First Amendment protects the right of the producers of these shows to craft and control those messages, based on whatever considerations the producers wish to take into account,”
ABC not surprising, was thrilled with the ruling. They released a statement showing their support,
“We felt from the onset this case was completely without merit and we are pleased the Court has found in our favor.”
Of course that was the right decision to make. Had a ruling like that passed in Federal court you would be taking away creativity of producers to cast who they want for specific roles. You would have to cast white people on a TV show about an all back college and you would have had to cast black people in Seinfeld. A show like the Bachelor has to serve up what viewers want in abundance. Ratings and advertisers equal money and continued life for any show.
Honestly, I think if a smooth enough black man tried out, ABC would cast him, the problem is a smooth, well built, successful, heterosexual single black man has way more than 20 girls to choose from. Right Shamar?
