And your new Bachelor is.... Matt James!
World, meet Matt James. Matt was cast to be a part of Clare Crawley's season of the Bachelorette. Crawley's season was set to start filming earlier this spring, but because of COVID-19 it was postponed. You may recognize James for his friendship with fan-favorite alum Tyler Cameron from Hannah Brown's season.
On Friday morning,Good Morning America announced James' new history-making role with a statement from ABC saying they are "privileged to have Matt" as the first black Bachelor.
"We know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we’re seeing onscreen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience," the statement read. "This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise. We feel so privileged to have Matt as our first Black Bachelor and we cannot wait to embark on this journey with him.”
This announcement comes on the heels of comments made by Rachel Lindsay — the only Black lead of the entire franchise — and a petition calling on ABC and executive producer Mike Fleiss to cast more people of color, which has garnered more than 84,000 signatures as of Friday morning.
Congratulations to Matt & we can't wait for THE MOST DRAMATIC SEASON EVER (lol) in 2021!