ABC Network’s reality show “The Bachelor” sparked controversy when its official Instagram account mistakenly tagged the wrong Asian American contestant.
The mistake: In an Instagram post, the social media managers of “The Bachelor” identified Season 28 contestant Jennifer “Jenn” Tran as Lea Cayanan in a photo from the show. In the image, Tran was photographed kissing 28-year-old bachelor Joey Graziadei, who is a tennis player from Pennsylvania.
Online reactions: Fans expressed anger on Reddit, criticizing the mix-up and accusing “The Bachelor” franchise of being ignorant and racist. Despite both contestants being Asian American, they come from different backgrounds. Tran is Vietnamese and is from New Jersey, while Cayanan is Filipino and resides in Hawaii.
“Not surprised. And it has nothing to do with them looking the same because these two women actually don’t nor do they have similar vibes. It’s because, 99% sure, they were labeled as IrrelevantAsian1 and IrrelevantAsian2 by these people when they watched the premiere. They didn’t care enough to invest in actually acknowledging them or differentiating them. Yet we’re supposed to differentiate the 18 blonde Laurens and Hannahs…,” one user commented.
Correction: The social media account has since corrected the error, but fans hope for increased attention to detail in the future to avoid such incidents.
