TV & Movies
The Bachelorette's Justin Glaze Is “Not Making Any Excuses” For His Resurfaced Tweets
“What I said was ignorant and hurtful then [and] it’s ignorant and hurtful now.”
The Bachelorette’s Justin Glaze has set the record straight about some of his old tweets. On Monday, July 12, the Season 17 contestant issued an apology for his past racist and homophobic social media posts on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with Becca Kufrin and guest co-host Tayshia Adams. According to People, Glaze published the offensive tweets — which reportedly included homophobic slurs and promoted colorism — between 2009 and 2011. And now that his comments have resurfaced on Reddit, the 26-year-old contestant has addressed them head-on.
“As I reflect on everything I just went through with this whole journey, oftentimes people ask me what I took from it,” Glaze said, per the magazine. “And one of the biggest takeaways for me was just my personal growth.” The Baltimore native currently fighting to win Katie Thurston’s heart went on to explain that although he’s historically had trouble holding himself accountable for past mistakes, it’s something he’s been working on. “I have no issue with owning up and apologizing from the bottom of my heart for the really hurtful words that I used,” he continued.
Rather than avoiding the controversy altogether, Glaze instead wanted to “speak from the heart” in hopes of showing people how much he’s grown since those tweets were published. “When I look back at 14-year-old Justin, I was in high school and quite frankly I was the type of person who for whatever reason felt the need to fit in and say funny things and keep up with what my peers were doing and saying,” he said. “The folks I had associated with would throw around really hurtful slurs that, at the time, I didn’t really think anything of.”
This isn’t the first time a Bachelor alum’s old social media posts have come back to bite them. Rachael Kirkconnell came under fire during Matt James’ season of The Bachelor when photos surfaced of her at an antebellum plantation-themed party in 2018. Additional images posted online showed the Season 25 winner dressed in a Native American costume. Taylor Nolan, who was a contestant on Nick Viall’s season of The Bachelor before starring on Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise, was slammed online in March for racist, antisemitic, xenophobic, ableist, homophobic, and fatphobic tweets she posted 10 years ago.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Glaze urged Bachelor Nation not to defend his past behavior. “What I said was ignorant and hurtful then [and] it’s ignorant and hurtful now,” he said. And although he’s “matured and evolved and grown as a person” over the last decade, the painter said he’s still very ashamed of the things he’s posted online. “I know those words would never come out of my mouth, because I know the weight that they carry, no matter what context they’re used in,” he continued. “I understand how much allyship and support those groups that I offended need.”
Glaze called the resurfacing of his old tweets a “wake-up call” and promised those listening that he’s a changed man. “Unfortunately, [at that time], my underdeveloped brain wasn’t thinking, ‘How can these words hurt people later on in life if they were to ever resurface?’” he said. “I’m not making any excuses. I need to be fully held accountable for my actions and my words. I fully understand that, and I just want people to know that I’ve changed immensely since then and I’m fully aware of the weight that my words carry.”
