Rachel Lindsay is vowing to be herself — even if it may result in fewer social media followers than her Bachelor Nation peers.
“Why [do] certain people have millions of followers and I don’t? I don’t fit in,” Lindsay, 39, claimed on the Monday, February 10, episode of the “Higher Learning” podcast. “I used to have more followers. The more I would speak out [and] the more I was myself, I would lose them. I will probably lose more when this comes out.”
After watching the Super Bowl halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar on Sunday, February 9, Lindsay saw The Bachelorette alum Tyler Cameron criticize the rapper’s performance on social media.
“And the worst halftime performance goes to…” Cameron’s since-deleted post read. “Should have been Lil Wayne!!”
In response, Lindsay wrote in the comments section, “Oh you just don’t get it friend.”
While Cameron, 32, wasn’t the only public figure to question the show, Lindsay explained why she wanted to respond.
“When I say, ‘You don’t get it,’ it’s also, ‘Oh, you don’t get me,’” Lindsay explained to her cohost Van Lathan. “That was also met with the comments of how people responded to me: ‘Oh, here’s Rachel again, being angry, making it about race.’ No, it’s just obvious you didn’t get the performance. You weren’t trying to understand it. It’s OK to say you didn’t like it, or ‘I don’t know Kendrick songs,’ but that it was the worst or that it was trash or that you don’t get it? It also means you don’t get me because it was representative of the culture.”
Lindsay appeared on season 21 of The Bachelor with Nick Viall. After placing third, the attorney was named the lead for season 13 of The Bachelorette. Although she married her final pick, Bryan Abasolo, they divorced in January 2024.
Today, Lindsay said she doesn’t “want to be connected to the franchise in any way” — and the moment she found herself in after the Super Bowl is just one reason why.
“I lose followers every day. It is what it is,” she said. “I’m not for them and this moment kind of highlighted that for me. In no way am I comparing myself to what Kendrick did. But I think as Black people, you can find a moment in your life where the theme of what the halftime show was applies to you.”
Lindsay continued, “In order to be accepted or to fit in, you have to assimilate. You are supposed to act a certain way. That was very much so for me, obviously, being a part of The Bachelor. The moment I did not play along with the rules, I was immediately met with backlash.”
Moving forward, Lindsay remains grateful for the “Higher Learning” podcast and having a space where she can be her authentic stuff.
“We have created this own community and space where we can do whatever the f— we want to do and be as Black and loud as we want to and I don’t have to play that game anymore,” she said. “Every single time I peek back in, I’m very much reminded why I don’t want to be in that space anymore.”
