Rachel Lindsay Gives Behind-the-Scenes Details of Chris Harrison Interview and More ‘Higher Learning’ Revelations

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How Rachel Kept Her Composure

“People of color are not given the benefit of the doubt. … I have to stay even-keeled; I have to stay calm. I cannot react, I cannot show emotion and the reason is because once I do that, that is all people will see,” Lindsay said. “I will be angry; I will be aggressive. You will not hear what I'm saying. You will not hear what the other person — Chris Harrison in this instance — was saying. You will only see the reaction and when I saw how that interview was going, I said, ‘I’m just gonna sit back. And I'm just gonna let this man talk.’”

Lindsay added that she wanted to react “so badly” for various reasons.

“The things that were boiling to me the most were the compassion and the grace and the space that Chris Harrison wanted to give to Rachael but couldn't give it to this Rachel in the interview,” she said. “[He] couldn't give it to the people that were offended by the things that she did — where was the compassion for them? Couldn't give it to them.”

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Rachel on Chris Bringing Up Hannah B. in the Interview

During the Extra interview, Harrison brought up season 15 Bachelorette Hannah Brown making headlines in 2020 for singing the N-Word.

“He threw in Hannah Brown. Now, we all know how I feel about that situation. Not once, but twice [Harrison] said that we didn't give Hannah Brown space, we didn't give her the grace that she needed. Y'all remember, Hannah Brown said the N-Word, right? … And then disappeared for two weeks before she formed together a written statement that disappeared on her Story after 24 hours?” Lindsay said. “But I'm supposed to have grace for that when I'm the one who's offended [by] it. I don't even need to get into that because we've already talked about the weight of that word.”

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Rachel and Chris Spoke Post-Interview

“When I finished that interview with Chris Harrison, he had no problems with it. He was fine. He texted me after, he appreciated the conversation. He was like, ‘Yeah, I'll probably get a little flack, but I thought it was great that we could disagree, but do it in a civil way,’” Lindsay said. “It wasn't until the backlash came the next day. It wasn't until people start talking, people start demanding and calling for different things that he does that. He then apologized to me, and then apologized publicly. … For me, I'm trying to reason,​​ ‘Well, which one is it?’ Because to me, Tuesday was your truth. And Wednesday is after the fact. Wednesday was a response to the backlash during that whole conversation.”

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The Term ‘Woke Police’

Harrison has come under fire for his repeated use of the word “woke” during his interview with Lindsay.

“You could insert accountability, the word accountable [or] accountability in for woke,” she said on the “Higher Learning” podcast. “So, you're mad people are now holding people accountable for the things that they do? OK because in 2018, we didn't do that. We weren't looking through that ‘lens.’”

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Rachel’s Future Within the Franchise

“Chris loves to keep saying, ‘We’ve had these conversations, so, I'm gonna go ahead and use that. Because we've had these conversations. [I] wasn't shocked at what he said. I'm just shocked [that] he said it on camera,” she told Lathan.

When asked about her future in Bachelor Nation, Lindsay, who cohosts the show’s “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast with Becca Kufrin, hinted that she was ready to move on.

“It’ll be interesting to see how does the network respond; how does the franchise respond to this? Because I think by their actions, you'll be able to tell,” she said, noting that Harrison needs to explain how he’s going to “do better.”

She continued: “As far as me, I'm f—king tired. I'm exhausted. I have truly had enough. My entire reason for doing The Bachelorette — and I was lucky that it worked out for me in the most beautiful way in finding Bryan [Abasolo] — is that I wanted to be representative as a Black woman to this audience. And I wanted to pave the way for more people to have this opportunity. In some ways that has happened. I wanted the franchise to be better. I have a love-hate relationship with it. I'm connected to it. It did stuff for me, and I'll never forget that. But how much more do I want to be affiliated with this? How much more can I take of things like this? I said I was gonna leave if they didn't have leads of color. OK, they did that, and they made some other changes. They hired a diversity consultant — who didn't attend the class? Did Chris Harrison not sit through that? I'm confused as to how you could have whole consultants working for you, yet what happened just happened … I can't take it anymore. I'm contractually bound in some ways. But when it's up, I am too. I can't do it anymore.”

Credit: Courtesy of Rachael Kirkconnell/Instagram

Rachel’s Reaction to Rachael’s Apology

Lindsay said that Kirkconnell’s statement put Harrison’s “to shame.”

“It’s great that she apologized and it's great that she finally said something. I would like to remind everybody that an apology is a baby step in the right direction. … Now I'm holding you to what you said,” Lindsay said. “It's great that you said it. It's great that you put that out there. I'm holding you to it.”

Credit: Courtesy of Rachael Kirkconnell/Instagram

Why Rachel Says Rachael Could've Spoken Out Sooner

There has been a lot of conflicting reports about whether Kirkconnell’s Bachelor contract prevented her from addressing the allegations sooner. According to Lindsay, there is nothing stopping her from taking to social media while the show is airing.

“It took you six weeks to address something that's been festering six weeks,” she said. “There is nothing in your contract that stops you from getting on your social media and doing exactly what she just did. She can't go to the media and do an exclusive sit-down interview on her own, but they don't have control over your social. So, I have a huge issue with ‘the franchise told you not to do it.’ You should be so outraged and enraged that people are speaking about you and calling you 'Rachael KKK.' … So, for me, it's kind of like, 'OK, it's been six weeks, you know, great. I'm so glad to finally see something. But it at six weeks, I don't really care.'”