Greer Blitzer received Zach Shallcross’s first impression rose on night one of “The Bachelor” at the Mansion, making her a front-runner almost immediately for this season. Quickly after the first episode aired, Blitzer found herself in a controversy due to a racist Tweet from 2016.
She immediately took to Instagram to issue an apology but addressed the situation again during the “Women Tell All” episode that aired earlier this week.
Greer Blizter Addresses Blackface Comments
Back in October, someone took to Reddit to share screenshots of Blitzer’s racist comments, defending the fellow teenager for wearing Blackface at the party. “The students involved didn’t even know what black face was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act,” Blitzer wrote on Twitter at the time according to the screenshots.
During the “Women Tell All” episode, host Jesse Palmer brought up those since-deleted social media posts, saying, “As a franchise, we’ve done a very poor job in the past addressing serious topics head on. And we’re not going to miss that opportunity here tonight.”
To which Blizter agreed, saying, “I don’t want to sweep it under the rug.”
“What I failed to mention in my apology is what happened was racist,” she continued to explain. “It’s not about the intent, it’s about the impact and this acquaintance of mine that I knew performing Blackface was racist. Me defending it was racist. My ignorance was racist and I’m just so ashamed. I’m just deeply sorry that I hurt the Black community.”
Greer Blitzer Sat Down With Healing Justice and Equity Co-Founder
The 24-year-old went on to explain how she is working on herself and educating herself for the future, even sitting down with Institute for Healing Justice and Equity co-founder Dr. Kira Banks. “She brought to my attention that it’s so important to be open-minded,” Blitzer said. “It’s so important to question things and ask and not just do without thinking.”
Blizter also claims she is doing her own research to understand why what she did was wrong. “I looked up lectures, really wanted to dive deep into the history of Blackface and understand why it was wrong, why it’s offensive,” she continued to explain. “And the research I was able to do I just realized it was a symbolism for dehumanizing the Black community.”
She understands that she “can’t go back in time,” but hopes to “try to do better in my future.”
Blitzer’s First Apology
The 24-year-old medical sales rep apologized after the first episode of “The Bachelor” aired for past comments she has made regarding a fellow teenager who wore Blackface at a party.
“The journey to love is filled with lessons and these lessons are also made on our journey of growth. In my past, I have made some uneducated, ignorant and frankly, wrong comments on my social media accounts,” Blitzer wrote on her Instagram Story. “In particular, I used misguided arguments on Twitter to defend a student who dressed in Blackface as Tupac for Halloween.”
“I am deeply sorry to those I have hurt, especially those within the Black community, not because these screenshots have resurfaced, but because I ever shared these harmful opinions at all. Time and age do not excuse my actions, but this is not a reflection of who I am today,” she continued.
Zach Shallcross’s season of “The Bachelor” continues Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The episodes are available to stream the following day on Hulu.
