‘The Bachelor’: Sean Lowe on Marquel Martin’s blog, race controversy

Was Marquel Martin overlooked as “The Bachelor” because of his race? We understand those who feel that way, and we do think to a certain extent it played a role in the decision to hire Chris Soules. If you ask the producers, we’re sure that they would point more to him being on “Bachelor in Paradise,” or the notion that he was too tentative and would ask a woman before leaning in to kiss them.

We were consistently in the Marquel camp throughout the past three months, so we’ll continue to feel bummed since he seemed honest, fun-loving, and had every quality you would want a Bachelor to have. Now, someone else who possesses some similar qualities has weighed in: Sean Lowe. Sean supported Marquel before he knew that his former castmate Arie Luyendyk Jr. was a contender, and he responded to a recent blog by Marquel wrote (which you can find out about here) with a post of his own. Let’s start with this opening line from Sean:

“How could you not like the guy? In fact, I thought the suits at the Bachelor should pay attention. In fact, I tweeted that I thought Marquel should be the next Bachelor … Not because he was black.  Because he’s awesome.”

Sean goes through many of the supposed reasons why Marquel may not have been cast, and also some of Marquel’s own assertions. One thing that we do find fascinating is Sean discussing something that Marquel wondered about in whether or not the show would be ready to have an interracial couple. After all, Sean knows about this experience firsthand thanks to his wife Catherine:

“As many of you know, I’m white. In fact, I’m very white and Catherine is Filipino. I can say from firsthand experience that bachelor nation and people everywhere have been extremely supportive of our relationship. Outside of a few racist jackasses, we have been met with nothing but love.”

There is probably never going to be a firm answer about whether or not the show made a racist decision in not casting Marquel, or they just felt like Chris Soules was the better choice for whatever reason. It just felt like this would have been a great time to cast a guy strictly on his merits, and not make race into any sort of issue. Due to Marquel being ignored for a role that he deserved, now it has become one.

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Photo: ABC