Greer Blitzer: Bachelor Front-Runner Defends Shocking Blackface Comments
If you watched the premiere of Andrew Shallcross’ season of The Bachelor, then you know that a handful of contestants seem to grab his attention almost immediately.
One of them was Greer Blitzer, a 24-year-old medical sales rep from Houston.
Greer brought Andrew a cup of coffee and explained to him how close she is to his current city of Austin, and how much she’s always wanted to live there.
The first impression tactics must have worked, because the two of them wound up making out in plain view of several other contestants.
Judging from the response on Twitter, Greer was popular with fans as well, and many viewers tweeted that they were happy to see her emerge as an early front-runner.
Public opinion took a sharp nosedive, however, when some old tweets resurfaced in which Greer defended a classmates’ decision to wear blackface to school.
The student was apparently participating in some sort of initiation ritual, and Blitzer lashed out at those who criticized her for it.
“The students involved didn’t even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act,” Greer allegedly tweeted in 2016.
“She did not paint herself black because she felt superior to black [people]. Putting white powder on your face isn’t okay either,” she continued.
“That didn’t make the news did it? I apologize if this offended you but you must understand it was not initially supposed to be perceived that way at all.”
Now, Greer has taken to social media to apologize for her previous remarks and clarify that she no longer feels that way.
“In my past, I have made some uneducated, ignorant and frankly, wrong, comments on my social media accounts,” the 24-year-old wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
“In particular, in 2016, I used misguided arguments on Twitter to defend a student who dressed in Blackface as Tupac for Halloween.”
Blitzer went on to say that there’s no excuse for her actions, and she merely hopes that those who have been affected by her comments can find it in their hearts to forgive her.
“I am deeply sorry to those I have hurt, especially those within the Black community, not because these screenshots have resurfaced, but because I ever shared those harmful opinions at all,” she wrote.
“Time and age don’t excuse my actions, but this is not a reflection of who I am today,” Greer continued.
“I do not stand by or condone the damaging opinions and behaviors I shared during that stage of my life and will forever regret making those offensive remarks.”
ABC and Zach Shallcross have yet to respond to the controversy surrounding Greer.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
