DeMario Defends Lee During The 'Men Tell All' & Twitter Is So Pissed

Every season of The Bachelorette and The Bachelor has to have a villain on it, more often than not, that villainy is the result of the way the show is edited. But from the very beginning things seemed much different with Lee, who seemed to revel in some very manipulative and distasteful behavior both on the show and on social media. But what was it actually like to be around Lee on a day to day basis? On the dramatic Men Tell All episode, fellow contestant DeMario actually defended Lee, saying the country singer was more a more "genuine" and sympathetic person than the camera might have let on.

"When all this happened with Lee I was confused, because the Lee that I know what this very genuine wholesome great guy," DeMario told Chris Harrison. "When all my sh*t was going on, Lee reached out to me first, like, 'Hey brother I'm here for you, I love you, let me know if you need me.' So again, I'm not sure, but the Lee that I know was a very genuine guy."

Of course, fans on Twitter weren't immediately ready to take DeMario's endorsement at face value — since he already wasn't a fan favorite based on how he left Rachel's season.

Later in the Men Tell All, however, Demario's mood changed completely when the contestants were presented with evidence of racism and bigotry that was found on Lee's Twitter account earlier in the season. In one noteworthy tweet, Lee compared the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to the Klu Klux Klan, saying both were racist but only one "has the sense of shame to cover their racist ass faces."

Saying that one of the country's oldest and most venerated civil rights organizations is in any way equivalent to the country's oldest hate group clearly struck a nerve in DeMario, who stood up to challenge Lee directly. "I wanna sit you down and give you history one-on-one," he said, calling the tweet "disrespectful."

And by the end of the episode, the contestants convinced Lee to apologize for his racist behavior, and Rachel called out both men for disappointing her in different ways during their time on the Bachelorette, which is really what everybody wanted to see.

So are DeMario and Lee still buddies? Even though most of the contestants accepted Lee's apology, it's unclear whether these two are going to be hanging out going forward. But at the very least, DeMario's insistence that Lee isn't such a bad guy is a reminder that sometimes, people who act in bad faith can seem charming and "genuine," too. So you definitely can't judge a book by its cover.