Rachel Lindsay doesn't do drama.
As The Bachelorette was airing on ABC Monday night, former Bachelor contestant Leah Block—who first appeared on Ben Higgins' season in 2016 and went on to compete in Season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise later that year—made a joke regarding the current season's diverse cast.
"I'm sitting here watching @BacheloretteABC and my roommate just sat down on the couch and said, 'What is this? @LoveAndHipHop_?' DEAD," Block wrote, referring to the Vh1 reality show's predominately black cast. It didn't take long for Bachelor Nation to swoop in and call her out for the insensitive joke. Astrid Loch, who competed on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor, even mentioned of Lindsay's suitors, Lee Garrett, whose racist tweets recently came to light. "Are you watching with Lee?" she asked. Lindsay replied to her friend's tweet, writing, "#army."
The Dallas-based attorney then responded to Block's tweet directly. "Let me know if she wants to meet Lee," she wrote. "They sound like they would have a lot in common. #ihavetimetoday."
Block, a Denver-based event planner, deleted the offending tweet and apparently deactivated her Twitter account. And her Instagram account—which has 52,200 followers—is set to private. When Lindsay learned Block's tweet had been deleted, after a viewer argued she "knew how wrong it was when she posted it," the reigning Bachelorette wrote, "Naw you just aren't funny."
In Monday's episode, Dean Unglert noted Garrett appeared to be starting drama with certain guys in the house—in particular, Eric Bigger and Kenny King, who are both black. "The only people that I've seen Lee pick fights with have been not the people that he's used to seeing on a daily basis, from a cultural perspective. You know exactly what I mean when I say that," he said. "The longer Lee sticks around, the more everyone will become aware of his intolerance."
As Lee egged King on, Lindsay grew increasingly uncomfortable.
In a confessional interview, Lindsay broke down in tears. "The pressures that I feel being a black woman, and what that is…I don't want to talk about it," she told producers. "I get pressured from so many different ways being in this position, and I did not want to get into all of this tonight. I already know what people are going to say about me and judge me for the decisions I'm making. I'm going to be the one that has to deal with that—nobody else. And that's a lot."
So, she cut the cocktail party short and went straight into the rose ceremony. While she gave Garrett another chance, by the end of the cliffhanger episode, he was back to tormenting King. Given Lindsay's latest tweet about Garrett, it seems unlikely he'll stick around too much longer.
The Bachelorette returns Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.