Greer Blitzer apologizes for defending Blackface in previous tweets

Greer Blitzer had quite the adventure on this season of The Bachelor. It was a whirlwind, to say the least, and ended with her defending racist tweets from her past. I don’t think anyone saw that coming, but kudos to Jesse Palmer and the production for addressing the situation head-on (unlike in the past).

Greer was sent home by Zach Shallcross after contracting COVID (probably from him) and being in quarantine for six days. Zach sent her home when she returned because too much time had lapsed. I’m not sure that was fair, considering he was also gone for a minute, but he’s the Bachelor, so we’ll let it go.

But that was just the start of Greer Blitzer’s journey on The Bachelor. As the season began to air, old tweets resurfaced of her defending Blackface (a friend of hers had decided to do it, and she came to their rescue). Greer deleted the tweets, but Bachelor Nation and the internet found them anyway. Thus began the controversy that led to a live apology on television during the Women Tell All special.

Greer Blitzer apologizes for defending Blackface (and deleting the tweets)

Jesse Palmer got right to business and didn’t waste any time once Greer was in the hot seat.

“The truth is, as a franchise we’ve done a very poor job in the past in addressing serious topics head on,” said Palmer. “We’re not going to miss that opportunity here tonight.”

He opened it up to Greer to explain her side of events.

“What I failed to mention in my apology was, uh, that what happened was racist. It’s not about the intent, it’s about the impact. This acquaintance of mine that I knew performing blackface was racist. Me defending it was racist. My ignorance was racist,” Greer exclaimed. “And I’m just so ashamed. I’m just deeply sorry that I hurt the Black community.”

In the past, The Bachelor franchise didn’t properly address Blackface when images of Erich Schwer emerged after he got engaged to then-fiance Gabby Windey. They just glossed over the whole thing, hence why Palmer mentioned the failure to address it in the past. He literally did Blackface, and they didn’t even do anything about it!

Good on them for bringing it up, but there is room for improvement in the franchise, and I hope they continue to address important situations. This is a starting point, but keep pushing and keep addressing it–we need this!

Thank you for addressing these important issues (finally!).

What did you think of the Greer Blitzer controversy? And how do you feel about how it was handled? Let us know in the comments below.