Garrett Issues An Apology - Updated

photo credit: Reality TV World

This afternoon Garrett posted this apology on his new Instagram page:

To those who I have hurt and offended:

This is all new to me. I went on the Bachelorette for the adventure and possibility of falling in love, not fame. I did not know what to expect once the show aired.

I am sorry to those who I offended, and I also take full responsibility for my "likes" on Instagram that were hurtful and offensive. garrett_yrigs12 was my former Instagram handle and I decided to take it down and start fresh because I have learned an extremely valuable lesson and am taking steps to grow, become more educated, and be a better version of myself. I am not perfect, and I will never be anywhere close, but now I will always be more informed and aware of what I am liking and supporting, not just on Instagram, but in life.

I never realized the power behind a mindless double tap on Instagram and how it bears so much weight on people's lives. I did not mean any harm by any of it. My Instagram "likes" were not a true reflection of me and my morals.

I am not the negative labels people are associating me with. For those who do not know me, I am a sincere, genuine, loving, light-hearted, open-minded and non-judgmental individual. I like to make new friends with anyone I meet and I want everyone to find their happiness. I love to laugh often and enjoy seeing others do the same. I hope that some day you can get to know the real me and the man that I am.

Let my mistakes be a lesson for those who mindlessly double tap images, memes and videos on any social media content that could be many things including hurtful, degrading, and dehumanizing. I do not want my social media to define who I am, and I will take better care moving forward to support all walks of life. Again, I sincerely apologize and am sorry for any hurt, damage, or offense I may have caused.

I'm not sure I'm buying the part about not going on the show for fame. I've said many times before that getting famous, specifically gaining enough Instagram followers to make money with ads, is now the main reason why anyone goes on the show. Garrett was savvy enough to apply for the show, then successfully navigated the lengthy and complicated casting process. After all that we're supposed to believe he was still so sheltered and naive that he had no idea that being on The Bachelorette could result in him being famous? Nope. Not buying it. 

Still, I give him credit. He's owning what he did and I'm sure the past few days can't have been fun. Presumably he spent a few uncomfortable hours with ABC and/or Warner Brothers lawyers and PR people as everyone tried to figure out how to handle this mess. Is it over now? We'll see.

See my previous post about Garrett here. 

Saturday morning update: It's crazy days here in Bachelor Nation. Garrett has now deleted his new Instagram account, which is where the above apology had been posted. In other Bach'ette news, apparently Leo (yes, the one with the hair) appeared in what could be called a soft-core porn film titled "High Heel Homicide."


photo credit: ABC.go.com

 

His full name is Leandro Dottavio; you can see his IMDB page here.

Who Is Garrett? - Updated (And A Spoiler)

Now that ABC has figured out what to do about Roseanne (they fired her, or to be more specific, they cancelled her show. Read about it here) the suits can turn their attention to The Bachelorette and figure out what they're going to do about Garrett Yrigoyen. After one episode of Becca's season Garrett is clearly a front-runner, having received the First Impression Rose and the first kiss. (And word on the street is that Garrett lasts a *long time* on the show.) What's the problem? People.com explains it like this:

Garrett Yrigoyen, one of Becca Kufrin‘s Bachelorette contestants, has come under fire after allegedly liking offensive posts on Instagram that mock the trans community, a Parkland high school shooting survivor, undocumented immigrants and more.

The California native’s Instagram has since been deleted, but screenshots taken by former Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey show messages that are claimed to be from as recent as November 2017. (From a post titled Bachelorette's Garrett Yrigyen Under Fire for Allegedly Liking Hateful, Transphobic Memes, read it here. The Huffington Post also has a long story about this, including screen shots of the deleted posts. Read it here.)  

As I'm writing on Tuesday evening there has been no comment from show producers, ABC or Yrigoyen himself, although there are plenty of comments on Garrett's new Instagram account (gy_yrigoyen,) and on Becca's (bkoof.) 

After the debacle of contestant Lee Garrett on Rachel's season last year, who was found to have a history of racist tweets and stirred up drama on the show, you would think ABC would have done a very deep dive into the social media accounts of all the men they cast on the show, as pointed out by People executive editor Kate Coyne: 

I’m forever a @BacheloretteABC / @BachelorABC fan. But HOW HARD IS IT TO THOROUGHLY CHECK SOMEONE’S SOCIAL MEDIA HISTORY before casting? Reporters do it in an hour. Casting racist, bigoted chauvinists is not “good TV.” It’s irresponsible & gross. #dobetter https://t.co/mxUVZHT9YX

— Kate Coyne (@KatePeople) May 29, 2018

We won't see this addressed on the show because filming was completed a couple of weeks ago and this stuff didn't bubble to the surface until this past week-end. There's also no way to change the outcome. What happened, happened. ABC can tweak the editing a bit but if Garrett does make it to Hometown Dates, Overnight Dates or the final episode, his entire narrative will be overshadowed by this unsavory revelation. What will ABC do about Garrett? We'll have to wait and see.

Wednesday morning update (and spoiler alert): Garrett is "under fire" this morning, with several big media sites covering the story:

The Hollywood Reporter: 'Bachelorette' Frontrunner Under Fire for Liking Controversial Social Media Posts
Eonline: The Bachelorette's Garrett Yrigoyen Under Fire for Alleged Instagram Activity
TV Guide: The Bachelorette Frontrunner Garrett Yrigoyen Slammed for Ugly Social Media History
Cosmopolitan: This Season of 'The Bachelorette' Already Has Its Problematic Guy (And It's Going To Be a BIG Problem For The Show)

Here's the spoiler: The reason this is such a big deal is that spoiler sites are claiming that Becca is in fact engaged to Garrett. If he was just another contestant who gets eliminated at some point, he could go away relatively quietly and the story would die down. But Becca has been making the media rounds, including Good Morning, America and Live With Kelly and Ryan yesterday, talking about how happy she is to be engaged to her new fiance, and by extension, how wonderful he is. There are also 10 more episodes of the show left to be aired, all of which, unless ABC goes back and re-edits the whole show, will feature Garrett in a "winner" edit intended to show what a great guy he is and building up to the emotional finale when he and Becca get engaged. (And, as stated above, they can tweak the editing but they can't change the outcome.) There's going to be a substantial disconnect between the "isn't he great" narrative that will play out on the show (and again, remember, everything was filmed weeks ago before any of this came out) and the "Garrett Under Fire" narrative now playing out in the real world in real time.

Is Becca engaged to Garrett? Probably. Is she aware of the controversy now surrounding him? Almost certainly, and show producers and the network have to be as well. (If nothing else, the sites listed above are all calling producers and the network for comments.) They would probably like to address the issue publicly but it will be very tricky to do that without revealing/confirming that Garrett is the winner, if in fact he is.

Is Becca having second thoughts about Garrett? No way to know but it's possible. Stay tuned.

Wednesday afternoon, update #2:

I reached out to ABC, which airs "The Bachelorette," and Warner Bros., which produces the show, to see if either had a response to Garrett allegedly liking sexist, transphobic and anti-immigrant memes. Both said they will not be commenting.

— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) May 30, 2018

Amy is a Hollywood/entertainment reporter for the LA Times; apparently neither the producers nor the network will comment about Garrett. Becca was asked about it in a couple of interviews yesterday and today but her answers were bland and scripted. She has to be careful. She didn't know about this during filming because it hadn't happened yet; if she acknowledges that she's in contact with Garrett now she (may possibly) be giving away the ending. However she feels about Garrett at this moment, she can't be happy that her season has been hijacked by this controversy.