‘The Bachelor’ Star Kelley Flanagan Issues Statement After Disability Joke With Kelsey Weier
Kelley Flanagan and Peter Weber infamously got together after Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor. Unfortunately, the two didn’t last — but Bachelor Nation still keeps up with what Kelley’s up to. She recently posted a video with fellow Bachelor cast member Kelsey Weier that stirred up much controversy. Here’s what she posted and the statement she issued afterward.
‘The Bachelor’ cast member Kelley Flanagan posted a video joking about faking a disability for good parking
While Kelley Flanagan and Peter Weber made headlines for their relationship, Kelley just stirred the pot with an Instagram post. A Reddit user posted part of Kelley’s Instagram Stories she posted that showed The Bachelor cast member Kelsey Weier limping while crossing the street.
“What’s the funniest prank you’ve played on someone?” a fan asked Kelley on Instagram.
“Not much of a prank, but I always make @kelsey_weier limp so we can get good parking,” Kelley wrote over the video of Kelsey’s limp.
” … [A]s an occupational therapist who completes disabled parking permit applications, this infuriates me,” a fan on Reddit wrote. “It’s not cute or funny. People really need those spots, which are usually very limited. Wow, and to post this as influencer content … gross. I was indifferent towards them, but now my opinion is zero. Unfollowed.”
“[I don’t care] if they give a tearful apology later on,” another fan wrote. “If you have some basic decency in the first [place], you wouldn’t do this and especially think it’s FUNNY to share.”
She recently issued a statement after the joke
After receiving backlash for the joke, The Bachelor cast member issued an apology on her Instagram Stories. Kelley Flanagan begins the stories post about how “assumptions” were being made about what occurred, and she wanted to clear the air about what she and Kelley Flanagan were really up to.
“The parking manager was in on it and told us to park left, and I said, what about those spots over there? And said, what if my friend has a sprained ankle?” she began. “He laughed and said go ahead, ya’ll can park there. Again, it was a joke, was not making fun of anyone or taking a disabled spot. It was a regular spot but just in a different area. We were all aware that it was a joke and not serious.”
“I hope you guys have a great night, and nothing about this was ever ill-willed, intended to do something illegal, or mock anyone,” she concluded.
Many fans on Reddit remain unimpressed. “Playing like this was a one-off thing and the parking attendant was in on it,” a Reddit user noted. “Then why the f*** did you say that you ALWAYS make her do it? Make it make sense.”
Will Kelley Flanagan join the ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ 2022 cast?
It’s doubtful fans will ever see Kelley Flanagan on The Bachelor ever again. But what about the Bachelor in Paradise 2022 cast?
ABC hasn’t yet released the official cast, and Kelley hasn’t given any indication she’s gunning to get on the show. Previously, fans thought she was attending a season after she announced she was heading to Mexico. But she shot down the idea on her Instagram.
“No, I am not,” she told a fan who asked if she was joining the Paradise cast in 2021, according to E! News. “I’m just going to Mexico.”
It’s unclear where she stands with Bachelor Nation now, or if her recent online behavior may impact her ability to get cast for Bachelor in Paradise Season 8.
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