Bachelor Nation star Taylor Nolan has issued an apology after fans unearthed what many called "racist" and other offensive past tweets.
The posts were shared on Reddit and Twitter this weekend following her recent condemnation of departing franchise host Chris Harrison over his controversial interview with The Bachelorette alum Rachel Lindsay.
"I hope that ya'll...don't hold me to the standard of being perfect. I'm not," Nolan, a 27-year-old mental health counselor, said in a video posted on her Instagram Story on Sunday, Feb. 28. "And I do apologize to the folks that I hurt and offended with those statements. I hope, I sincerely hope that you see that I stand with you today."
Nolan had posted the tweets in 2011 and 2012, when she was a teenager. In her posts, she insulted minority groups in the United States, such as Indians and other Asians, as well as Jews. Other tweets fat-shamed people or contained homophobic slurs.
Scores of fans called on Nolan to apologize. On Sunday afternoon, she shared a written statement on her Instagram, along with posting a video of herself explaining her actions on her Instagram Story and regular feed.
"My tweets from ten years ago are s--tty, they suck, they were wrong, and are hurtful," Nolan wrote in her statement. "I want to be clear that they don't take away from the work I do today, they are literally how I got here to doing this work."
Taylor continued, "I never deleted those tweets for a reason because they've been a part of my ~journey~ since way before going the bachelor. I didn't need anyone to call those things out to me to know they were wrong, I've been doing that work on my own for the last ten years and its the same work I do today and the same work I will continue doing for the rest of my life. To my fellow BIPOC community and the other folks who I harmed in those tweets, I see you, I hope you see me, we are in this together and I'm sorry I didn't always stand with you. I'm sorry I centered my whiteness and the whiteness around me. I'm sorry I wasn't better then, but I am here now and will always be."
In her Instagram Story video, Nolan reiterated that "the perspectives that I held in those tweets from almost 10 years ago, I do not currently hold nor have I for many years."
"They're literally how I got to doing this work in the first place," she continued. "A lot of that stems from my own internalized racism from growing up in a white supremacist culture, from experiencing the racism that I did and thinking falsely that I could protect myself by being close to whiteness. That was how I protected myself, that was, honestly, my trauma response, was upholding white supremacy, which obviously, I speak out a lot on today and that's because I very well know how to see when someone is doing it, because I used to do it."
The backlash over Nolan's tweets comes weeks after Harrison announced he is temporarily "stepping aside" from his longtime role of host of The Bachelor and its spinoffs after apologizing for "excusing historical racism" during a TV interview with Lindsay about leaked past photos of current The Bachelor hopeful Rachael Kirkconnell, for which she apologized. Following the controversy, many Bachelor Nation stars, including Kirkconnell and Nolan spoke out against racism and rallied behind The Bachelorette alum, who quit Instagram amid harassment from other fans. Nolan even wrote on her page on Saturday that she thinks Harrison should be fired outright.
"I hope that ya'll take the time to listen to this video and consider giving me an inkling of grace that we're often so quickly to give people like Chris after just an apology, without seeing any of the work being done," she said in her Instagram Story video on Sunday. "I've been doing the work."
Fellow Bachelor Nation star Ashley Spivey, who competed on season 15 of The Bachelor with Brad Womack in 2011 and appeared on Nolan's podcast Let's Talk About It... in 2019, had condemned the fellow reality star's tweets before Nolan shared her recent comments on them.
"I am horrified and disgusted by the language used in the tweets from Taylor," Spivey wrote on her Instagram Story on Sunday. "I wanted a chance to look them up to confirm that they were real. I cannot speak for her and I hope she will denounce this language and her behavior ASAP. The Taylor I've known for the past couple of years has shown growth and a willingness to be an advocate. Accountability would be applied to anyone in this situation whether they were a friend, family member, colleague. etc. There is no defense for racism, homophobia, fatphobia, or the hatred I saw displayed. Full stop."
"A very sad thread of Taylor Nolan from The Bachelor franchise tweeting racist, homophobic, fatphobic, and ableist tweets," one fan tweeted earlier in the day. "Not a good look then or now. Why are the most vocal people the biggest hypocrites? #TheBachelor #TaylorNolan."
Another fan wrote, "Everyone, even taylor nolan, needs to be held accountable when they've been racist, homophobic, etc. everyone. Her growth journey can be real, but accountability for harmful actions needs to also be real."