The Bachelor’s Rachael Kirkconnell asks fans ‘stop defending’ her over racism scandal and vows to ‘do better’’

The Bachelor star Rachael Kirkconnell has spoken out in a new video, as she continues to apologize for her past racist behavior.

The frontrunner for Matt James’ season once again told fans to stop defending her previous behavior as the 24-year-old tries to move forward from the racism scandal that has engulfed the season.

Taking to Instagram in a somber video on Thursday, she spoke directly to the camera as she began: ‘I just wanted to come on here and say a few things. I’ve gotten a lot of people asking me, “Well, what have you done to change since then?”

‘And I’ve also had a lot of people message me saying that they aren’t understanding why people are so upset, but they want to, and they’ve asked for resources, which I think is great. But then there’s also people that’s messaging me saying, “You’ve done nothing wrong, don’t listen to people.” I’m just, I’m tired of getting all of this and not saying anything.’

The reality star admitted she has been hesitant about what to post regarding racial injustice because she was worried about how it might look at this time of increased public interest in her actions.

‘I don’t want people thinking that it’s performative or that it’s not something that I truly stand by,’ Rachael added, admitting she understood why people were hurt and upset by things she’s done in the past, and how she’s handled this controversy.’

She told fans: ‘I hear you. There are things out there that completely validate your opinions and your anger towards me. But I’ve come to realize that sitting aside and hiding in the corner, to avoid being called performative, it doesn’t help anyone.’

The Georgia native also took the time to call out fans who were choosing to defend her past actions, which include accusations that she attended an ‘Old South plantation theme party’ in 2018 and allegedly bullied a former schoolmate (TikTok user Maddy Bierster) for dating a black man.

She pointedly asked followers to stop weighing in as she continued: ‘If you are in my comments, or defending me anywhere, telling people that I did nothing wrong, that there’s nothing to be hurt about or nothing to be angry about or offended about, please stop.

‘That’s not our place to tell people what they can be or can’t be offended about. That’s wrong. And that’s part of the problem. Please stop saying I did nothing wrong, because that’s not true.’

Rachael added: ‘If you really want to support me, then encourage me to do better and encourage those around you to do better and accept change… because we need to work together if anything is going to change.’

Rachael captioned the video: ‘antiracism resources / to those defending me. moving forward i will utilize my platform to amplify voices that are extremely knowledgeable in these subjects.

‘please go to my story for IG handles, links to explain my offenses, and my link in bio for more resources which i will continue to add to. please look into these platforms and sources, this is the first step for change.’

The reality star told fans that she chooses to see this situation as a ‘blessing in disguise because maybe it can wake a lot of people up, and maybe it already has started to.’

The young star concluded the video by apologizing again and shared her hopes that she can earn the public’s forgiveness as she added: ‘I’m done waiting around for the time to speak, and I’m done hiding from all of this.’

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