Bachelor Nation's Kaitlyn Bristowe is sharing her thoughts after some fans felt she wasn't fast enough in condemning Taylor Nolan's resurfaced tweets.
In a message shared to her Instagram Story on Monday, March 1, the former lead of The Bachelorette spoke out about the ongoing controversy surrounding Taylor's years-old tweets featuring jokes that used derogatory language toward people in minority groups. Taylor, 27, also received backlash over the apology she posted to her Instagram Story on Feb. 28.
Kaitlyn referred to Taylor's posts as "not only racist but now homophobic, fat-shaming, the list goes on. I'm shocked that it's Taylor Nolan because she talks about being an ally and how she's done all this work, which I'm not discrediting that she's done all the work. But to use that as an excuse by saying you're sorry, by saying you've done the work, is dismissing what you've said. It's dismissing all those people you've offended."
The 35-year-old Dancing With the Stars winner explained she "was shocked and disgusted and bothered, actually alarmed, by her tweets." She added, "It really, truly just made me sick to my stomach to see."
Kaitlyn went on to say she doesn't appreciate that some fans assumed she wasn't taking a stand against the tweets because she didn't immediately post a reaction to the situation. Kaitlyn explained she in fact found the posts to be so offensive that she needed time to process them.
"But now here's the thing," she shared. "Now I can't post anything or do anything because now my DMs are filled with people being like, 'How have you not said anything about the Taylor Nolan thing?' Because I myself have to think, digest, read what she said. And you know what? It really bothered me. I really needed to just take a second and not react with emotion to that because it was really disturbing."
Taylor's tweets are predominantly from 2011 and 2012 and mock Jewish people, Asians, "fat" people and members of the LGBTQ+ community. She issued a second apology on March 1 after she was criticized for her first apology, which claimed the tweets were "a part of my ~journey~."
This follows Chris Harrison announcing on Feb. 13 that he is temporarily "stepping aside" from hosting the franchise after he defended current The Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell's controversial past behavior.