Actions speak louder than words.
On Friday, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay virtually stopped by Daily Pop and shared with E!’s Nina Parker her thoughts on Drew Brees‘ apology, whether she’s heard from Hannah Brown since her N-word controversy and more.
On Wednesday, during an interview with Yahoo Finance, the Saints quarterback was asked to revisit Colin Kaepernick‘s peaceful protest against police brutality in 2016. During the discussion, Drew said he “will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.” This comment sparked backlash for Drew, including criticism from fellow athletes LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, Devin McCourty and Jason McCourty.
By Thursday, Drew apologized on social media.
Although Rachel said she wouldn’t criticize Drew’s sincerity, she did have a few things to say about the execution of the apology.
“I’m not one to critique someone’s apology as far as the sincerity of it,” Rachel relayed. “But I think if you look at the totality of what he’s said, back from when Kaepernick first took a knee four years ago to what he said yesterday to what he said now, I think he’s kind of shown who he is at this point.”
Furthermore, Rachel noted that she isn’t “a fan of you apologizing through words.” Following his remarks, the NFL star took to Instagram and shared a written apology alongside a picture of a black person and a white person holding hands.
“I’ve also been told that the photo that he used on Instagram was a stock photo and that he had words,” she continued. “So, to me, did you say this? I can’t tell, I need for you to apologize to me in the same format that you said the original comments in.”
Drew has since issued another apology on Instagram, this time on camera.
Regarding the timing of the apology, Rachel theorized that the backlash inspired the public mea culpa.
“Four years ago, no one was fighting for Black Lives Matter except for black people. Now, it’s just water across the board,” Rachel added. “So, you’ve got LeBron James speaking out, you’ve got your teammates speaking out and you have to play with these individuals.”
Even though Drew’s team called a meeting to address the issue, Rachel said the professional quarterback “showed his hand.”
Speaking of public apologies, Rachel opened up about the guidance she gave fellow Bachelorette Hannah Brown after the latter used the N-word.
Back in May, the Bachelor alum faced backlash after saying the N-word during an Instagram Live where she recited the lyrics to DaBaby‘s song, “Rockstar.” Amid the controversy, Rachel—who is the first and only black lead of the ABC franchise—publicly criticized Hannah’s actions and reached out to the former Miss Alabama.
“I was not a fan of the way she initially apologized, I wanted her to speak out on camera, which she did,” Rachel expressed. “And I’m not gonna take away from that apology. She seemed very sincere, she seemed like she was willing to learn and good for her.”
However, Rachel said that she has not heard from Hannah amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd‘s death.
“Has she reached out to me? No. And I haven’t reached out to her either,” Rachel stated. “It goes both ways. Neither of us have contacted each other. In her video, she said she hired an educator, so I guess that’s who she can reach out to, to seek knowledge in regards to this subject if she’s trying to learn something more.”
As the interview continued, Nina asked Rachel to shed light on any interracial couple conversations she’s had with husband Bryan Abasolo. Per Rachel, who met her spouse during season 13 of The Bachelorette, she had tough conversations with Bryan while they were in the fantasy suite.
“I was like, ‘Listen, I need to understand where you stand when it comes to me being black, us being an interracial couple and us starting a future and having biracial children,'” she recalled. “‘Because, when they see our children, they will see them as black!’ So, Bryan and I had these conversations years ago.”
When it came time to protest, Rachel said Bryan “was ready to be right there with me, standing beside me, yelling ‘Black Lives Matter.'”
“For him, it was his first time protesting, so it was very emotional for him,” Rachel described. “To be out there, to yelling ‘Black Lives Matter’ and just to see the diversity and the unity of people who didn’t look like me. I was in the minority of the people we were protesting with in Miami.”
Going off of this point, Rachel declared that she has “hope that things will change because, for the first time ever, we have your attention.”
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