The Bachelorette alum Bryan Abasolo has slammed trolls bullying his wife Rachel Lindsay following her disassociation from The Bachelor franchise over recent racism controversies.
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During the Monday episode of Bryan's "Talking It Out" podcast, Bryan -- who received Rachel's final rose and proposed marriage during The Bachelorette's Season 13 finale -- fired back at the people who have been dishing nothing but hate to his wife.
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"I feel like if you give them energy, you're bringing something to life that should have never been alive," Bryan, 41, said about social media trolls, according to Us Weekly.
"People write the most disgusting, vile stuff to her and she'll actually respond, not disrespectfully or anything like that, but... she's a lawyer, so she'll hit her back with the facts, like, 'How was I doing this? How was I doing that?'"
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Bryan said he's proud to watch Rachel handle herself and live boldly amid such negativity, especially when Rachel's wise responses shut down the offender.
"The person doesn't even answer back with the responses," Bryan revealed.
"Instead, they respond with, 'Oh, my God, I love you. I didn't think you would respond,' and it's like, how did you just say what you just said that was so malicious and then just totally flip? Like, 'Oh, my God, I'm sorry. I didn't think you would respond.'"
Rachel has been the subject of scrutiny and backlash ever since her early-February Extra interview with Chris Harrison in which the longtime host had defended The Bachelor Season 25 winner Rachael Kirkconnell's racially-ignorant and racially-insensitive actions in the last several years.
Many people blamed Rachel for Chris' temporary leave of absence from The Bachelor franchise that eventually turned into a permanent exit earlier this month and Chris walking away from his ABC hosting job with a multi-million dollar hush-money settlement.
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Nasty online messages apparently continued once Rachel penned a passionate op-ed for New York Magazine and opened up about feeling "exploited," harassed, and repeatedly disappointed ever since appearing on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor and then starring as The Bachelorette's first-ever Black woman for Season 13.
Rachel said she believes there is a "Bachelor Klan" and she's "exhausted from defending" herself from "toxic fandom" and will no longer associate herself with the franchise.
"[The fandom] really started to turn against me after that [Chris] interview. The franchise has spent 19 years cultivating a toxic audience," Rachel claimed.
"They have constantly given it a product it wants: a midwestern/southern white, blonde, light-eyed Christian. Not all viewers are like that. My Higher Learning co-host and I have divided it -- there is a Bachelor Nation, and there is a Bachelor Klan."
Rachel continued, "Bachelor Klan is hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic. They are afraid of change. They are afraid to be uncomfortable. They are afraid when they get called out."
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Rachel said some fans on social media attempted to "dig up dirt" on her.
"I received death threats and personal attacks. I had to hire people to protect me. I couldn't even pretend to want to be involved anymore. I didn't want to give people a reason to talk about me because everything I was saying was becoming a headline. And so I decided to remove myself from it all," Rachel wrote.
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Rachel explained that she believes no real change has yet to be made within the franchise and so she'll no longer be "a figurehead."
"I am no longer a spot-filler," Rachel clarified. "I am no longer the face of what is diverse... I wouldn't come back and talk about something if they paid me. Well, maybe if they paid me eight figures."
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Rachel insisted, however, she doesn't regret being The Bachelorette star because the show introduced her to her husband.
"Rachel just had like an X-factor," Bryan gushed on his podcast of his wife.
"She was a triple threat -- brains, beauty, personality, great sense of humor. She was a professional. She had a career. Everything on paper was top notch... She keeps me on my toes [and] she challenges me to be a better man."
Rachel and Bryan tied the knot in a romantic ceremony at the Royalton Suites Cancun in Mexico on August 24, 2019, according to People.
Rachel chose Bryan over her runner-up Peter Kraus on The Bachelorette.
After the attorney-turned-media personality and Bryan got engaged, they lived in Rachel's hometown of Dallas, TX, for a while before moving to Miami, FL, in 2019 where Bryan continued working as a chiropractor.
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