Matt James is giving his relationship with Rachael Kirkonnell another chance. The former Bachelor told WSJ Magazine that they are trying to make things work after breaking up earlier this year when racially insensitive photos of her surfaced online.
He told the outlet, "I think the best way to put it is that we can have critical conversations about being in this relationship and what I need in a partner — especially if that woman isn't Black — to understand what comes with me and my life and being Black.”
James, who was the franchise’s first Black Bachelor continued, "It's on people who care about being allies to do the work to be truly antiracist .I think it's unfair to leave people without the ability to unlearn and be better."
James, 29, and Kirkconnell, 24, left season 25 of The Bachelor as a couple and remained together until photos of Kirkconnell attending an antebellum plantation-themed party in 2018 surfaced on social media. She later apologized and said that she is "learning and will continue to learn how to be antiracist."