Bachelor fans have been heartbroken over Garrett Yrigoyen’s bad opinions, but not because they expected better of him.
It hurts them to see Becca Kufrin remain engaged to a man who seems to not be a good person. Finally, Becca is speaking up.
“I’ve been pretty tore up the past week about everything going on,” Garrett wrote last week.
The context was that millions of Americans are protesting against racism.
And, relatedly, they were protesting the excalating police violence against those they are allegedly supposed to protect.
“I’ve listened, learned, helped, supported, and grown,” Garrett insisted.
“With so many friends and family in law enforcement,” Garrett said, “I couldn’t sit back and not support them.”
He continued: “and the hundreds of thousands of men and women of all races that represent this Thin Blue Line as well.”
We’re suddenly wondering if there are any other jobs who feel that they need a flag or symbol.
Is there one for entertainment news writers?
“It’s important for me to recognize the ones who stand in the gap and put their lives on the line each and every single day,” Garrett opined.
He insisted that police work “for humans of different race and ethnicity, including those who hate them.”
“The Thin Blue Line represents each officer protecting protestors, properties, and businesses,” Garrett wrote.
He said that they do so “while being threatened, attacked, shot, shot at, hit with vehicles, and other forms of brutality.”
“They are suffering the consequences over an act they didn’t commit,” Garrett expresses.
“They continue to put in overtime away from their families, stay silent while being threatened, hated, and assaulted,” he wrote.
I mean, so do retail workers and food service workers throughout the year, but if they murder someone on the job, they get fired.
“We can’t judge an entire group of people by the actions of a few,” Garrett insisted.
“We can’t judge the peaceful protesters by the actions of the few violent protesters,” Garrett affirmed.
“And,” he claimed, “we sure can’t judge all cops by the actions of a few bad ones.”
“Remember when they put on the badge they’re still humans, with raw emotion,” Garrett stated.
He then characterized that “the more brutality they face the more on edge they become.”
“They make mistakes,” Garrett acknowledged before alleging: “They have compassion.”
“And no matter how terrible they are treated or whatever negative is said to them, they still show up for us when we need them!” he wrote.
Garrett insisted: “Remember these men and women who hold this Thin Blue Line; strangers, friends, family, neighbors, or your enemies.”
“They will always be out there protecting us, no matter what!” he concluded.
Garrett chose a time when hundreds of police have been filmed inflicting unspeakable violence upon protesters and bystanders alike to post that.
Bekah Martinez, who has never shied away from speaking her mind, called him out on it.
She took the Thin Blue Line flag, an authoritarian symbol made by bastardizing the US flag, and shared a photo displaying exactly her thoughts on it.
Garrett responded by “disinviting” her from his home.
Becca Kufrin, who remains engaged to Garrett despite his appalling social media bigotry scandal in 2018, is finally addressing it.
“Garrett is my fiance and I love him and to his core, I believe that he is a good person,” Becca said on her podcast with Rachel Lindsay.
She did at least affirm “I don’t align with and I don’t agree with” his social media posts.
That’s something, at least.
“I don’t think he meant it in a malicious way,” Becca opines.
“I do think it was tone-deaf,” she acknowledges.
“And,” Becca adds, “it was the wrong time and message and sentiment.”
That is something of an understatement.
Rachel Lindsay chimed in with her take.
“To me, this is what Garrett thinks, this is what Garrett is,” Rachel said. “He posted a black box. He never said ‘black lives matter.'”
“He posted fists of every color, which to me is like, ‘Everybody, all lives,'” she laments.
“And then,” Rachel observes, “the very next post is the ‘thin blue line’ with a heartfelt, thought-out caption that he said with his chest,”
”And to me, that is what you feel, and that is what you believe,” Rachel emphasized.
“I don’t think Garrett is malicious,” she said, “but Garrett is what the problem is.”
In other words, he is speaking more about some hurt feelings among armed and armored police than he is about the murders of black Americans.
He is not alone in that, but that doesn’t make it a morally acceptable position to hold. It just isn’t.
Becca spoke further on Instagram in a lengthy caption.
“This entire week has been the most difficult,” she acknowledged of the pivotal week in US history.
Becca admitted that “quite frankly I’m anxious for the assortment of responses that will be sent about today’s BHH podcast.”
“Ultimately I have to look beyond myself & my feelings,” she emphasizes, “because what we cover in it is so much bigger & important than me.”
“So with that preface, I’m going to take a moment to give some thoughts,” Becca writes.
“Unfortunately,” she adds, “I can’t say them all in 1 post, but I hope my future actions speak louder than any words I can say.”
“Throughout the episode,” Becca shares, “Rachel & I talk about what has been taking place across our country.”
The two discuss “the Black Lives Matter Movement, underlying issues of white privilege, diversity, & changes that can take place within systems.”
Becca notes that that included potential changes made within systems “like the Bachelor Franchise.”
“This conversation was the hardest, most uncomfortable, but important ones that we’ve had,” she states.
“I value my friendship with Rachel,” Becca affirms. “I also value my partnership with Garrett. So this is really effing hard.”
“As it should be.” she notes. “I will be the first to admit that listening to this back, I came up short. Very short.”
“I listen to this & wish I had said more, wish I could have expressed myself better,” Becca writes.
She acknowledges that she wishes that she “could have given so much more than I did.”
“I think to myself ‘I didn’t ask the right questions,’ ‘I threw out the incorrect phrases,’ ‘I didn’t defend my fiance,'” Becca lists.
She also asks “‘why couldn’t I back up my thought process better?’ The list goes on & on. So where do I go from here?”
“I can’t re-record this episode. I can’t go back & change my words (or lack there of),” Becca writes.
She says “I can only try to move forward with what I believe is right, how to accept, be patient, & show care to others.”
Becca adds “especially for those who are hurting most right now.”
“It that starts with a heart change (as Rachel so eloquently put it at the end – so I hope you’ve all listened through),” she expresses.
“As an individual, I have the ability to use my voice, to use my platform,” Becca says.
She can use her voice “to have uncomfortable conversations during time-changing moments like this because it matters. It’s important.”
“Each day brings on a brand new challenge, conversation, & new lesson,” Becca writes. “I welcome them & I hope you do too.”
“If I’ve learned anything throughout these past 2 years, it’s that we have the beautiful capability to be better than the day before,” Becca reflects.
“So that’s what I’m trying my damndest at,” she concludes.
To be clear, no one is trying to strongarm Becca into breaking up with Garrett because he’s transparently not a good person.
But people are disappointed that it’s not a dealbreaker for her, and it does reflect upon her character, don’t you think?