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The Bachelor's Leah Block Apologizes for Offensive Tweet About The Bachelorette's Rachel Lindsay

She put her foot in her mouth

liam-mathews
Liam Mathews

While Monday's episode of The Bachelorette was airing, Leah Block, who appeared on Ben Higgins' season of The Bachelor and Season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise, dashed off an ill-considered tweet about the racial diversity of Rachel Lindsay's season.

"I'm sitting here watching @BacheloretteABC and my roommate just sat down on the couch and said "what is this? @LoveAndHipHop_? DEAD.," Block wrote, referencing VH1's soapy reality franchise that features a predominately black cast.

Block later deleted the tweet, but not before Lindsay saw it. Lindsay, who during the episode got overcome with emotion when talking about the pressure she feels as the first black Bachelorette, was not in the mood for Block's disrespect, and replied, "Let me know if she wants to meet Lee...they sound like they would have a lot in common #ihavetimetoday."

Leah Block, Bachelor in Paradise

Leah Block, Bachelor in Paradise

Craig Sjodin, ABC

Lee, of course, is a contestant on Lindsay's season who has made racially insensitive tweets of his own and whose alleged racism is going to be a big part of the story in next week's episodes.

Block, having been called out on her racism, initially turned into a corn cob before apologizing on Facebook Wednesday.

"The tweet came from a place that humored the failure of representation of minorities in reality TV and belittled the significance of Rachel's presence on the show," she wrote. "I acknowledge that entertaining this kind of humor is a passive and careless action that stifles the progress the black community has made in television and continue to make in this industry. It is vitally important to prioritize these experiences and help destroy the oppressive forces that threaten minority communities. My tweet did neither of those things and I see that as a personal failure."

Bachelorette Contestant Says Race Was a Factor in Paradise Scandal

"In my initial Twitter responses to concerned Bachelor Nation fans, I was defensive," she continued. "The attacks directed at me felt to be responses to the epidemic of injustice we have towards individuals of marginalized identities -- especially the black community. I accept responsibility for my ignorance and as I move forward I will engage in these issues so I can become an informed ally who would never consider that tweet to be funny in the first place."

"Our Society should have no place for hate that targets any minority group," she said. "We can't make the future better until we make ourselves better. And I'm starting now."