‘The Bachelorette’: Clare Crawley Was Reportedly Not Told Matt James Was Cast as the Bachelor
Before Matt James was cast as the next Bachelor, he was supposed to appear as a contestant on the upcoming season of The Bachelorette starring Clare Crawley. According to a source, Crawley found out James will not be on her season by watching Good Morning America.
Clare Crawley subtweeted Matt James on Twitter
On April 25, Crawley called out James for appearing on The Bachelorette for the “wrong reasons.”
“If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season… you are in it for the wrong reasons… #dontwasteyourtime,” Crawley tweeted.
In another tweet, she wrote, “Respect the opportunity you’ve been given. Respect the rules. Respect me. @BacheloretteABC.”
Fans defended James and explained that his Cameo account and interviews were to promote a charity, The Robin Hood Foundation. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Chris Harrison defended Crawley and explained her tweets were not aimed at James specifically.
“First of all, everyone relax about the whole charity thing. Clare’s not against charity, she’s not against Matt doing charity,” Harrison said. “But with that said, she’s not specifically talking about Matt, she’s just saying she’s living under a certain set of guidelines and rules because she’s the Bachelorette. She’s kind of already in our family, and she’s been respecting that.”
Matt James was cast as the lead for the next season of ‘The Bachelor’
On June 12, James was announced as the first black lead of The Bachelor. Filming for Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette is currently delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“When filming couldn’t move forward as planned, we were given the benefit of time to get to know Matt and all agreed he would make a perfect Bachelor. We know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we’re seeing onscreen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience,” ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke said in a statement. “This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise. We feel so privileged to have Matt as our first black Bachelor and we cannot wait to embark on this journey with him.”
Clare Crawley was reportedly not told about Matt James’ casting
In an interview with Variety, ABC executive Rob Mills said there was a benefit to casting The Bachelor before Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette begins.
“I think where this is really great for Clare is that every guy who will be on her season will know there is no chance of becoming The Bachelor, so they should really all be there only for Clare,” Mills said.
While casting James as the Bachelor this early does seem to benefit Crawley, a source tells Us Weekly that Crawley was not told ahead of time about James’ casting.
“Clare didn’t know about Matt becoming the Bachelor until GMA announcement,” the source said. “Decisions are still being made when it comes to her cast.”
