Jenn Tran radiated excitement and optimism after meeting a group of single men eager to marry her on the season premiere of ABC's “The Bachelorette.” But dark clouds are already gathering over her journey to find a husband.
Tran is the first Asian lead on the popular reality franchise, and her season has been positioned by “Bachelor” producers as a crucial demonstration that they are honoring their promise to be more culturally inclusive, moving past criticisms of racism and cultural insensitivity that have dogged the dating show since its debut in 2002.
However, as Tran embarks on her romantic quest, one of the franchise's most prominent people of color goes missing.
Jodi Baskerville became the franchise’s first Black executive producer in 2021 after the racism scandal upended the season starring Matt James, the first Black bachelor. Now, just three years later, she’s absent from the end credits of “The Bachelorette,” which premiered Monday.
ABC and production company Warner Bros., which announced Baskerville’s promotion with considerable fanfare, declined to comment on his exclusion from the episode’s credits, raising questions about whether his role has changed and the franchise’s commitment to reform on issues of race.
This season of “The Bachelorette” has already faced criticism for the near absence of Asian men in Tran’s dating pool.
In an interview with Glamour, Tran herself called the lack of casting “unfortunate.” Acknowledging the lack of Asian representation this season and in the franchise at large, executive producer Bennett Graebner told the Times, “That’s our fault. We didn’t do what we needed to do. Our hope is that they see Jenn and realize that this is a safe space. We’re not saying it’s going to solve and fix everything. But it’s a step.”
The questions about Baskerville’s role come four months after a disastrous panel discussion at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, in which “The Bachelor” executive producers were asked about the franchise’s troubled racial history and its deep struggles with cast members of color, particularly its Black leads.
Instead of answering the question, Graebner and fellow EPs Claire Freeland and Jason Ehrlich froze, leading to an awkward silence that lasted several seconds.
Baskerville's promotion to executive producer came after the controversy that erupted during James' 2021 run on “The Bachelor,” which led to the departure of longtime host Chris Harrison from the franchise. James remains the only Black male lead in the series' history.
In an attempt to repair the damage caused by James’ season, Baskerville, a franchise veteran, was named executive producer for season 18 of “The Bachelorette.” That season was a milestone: For the first time, the series had a Black female executive producer, a Black lead (Michelle Young) and a Black co-host (former Bachelorette Tayshia Adams).
“Having Jodi there, having another woman of color, if at any point there was something that was bothering me or I just wanted to talk about something, she was there to talk about it with me. [and] “It makes me feel heard, and it makes me sit down and have conversations and involve everyone else in those conversations as well,” Young said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.
She added: “I felt like with that, the story would be told accurately, it would be told in a way that all walks of life could understand, but it would really showcase those diverse love stories.”
