Katie Thurston, the current lead on The Bachelorette, is addressing backlash she received after being unable to name four African countries on show alum Nick Viall’s podcast. For the most part this season, Katie has been widely accepted by Bachelor Nation. Fans love her no-nonsense approach to finding love, her down-to-earth personality and sex positivity. However, she was recently dragged on social media for her ignorance regarding African geography.
When Katie appeared on The Viall Files last month, Nick asked The Bachelorette if she could list four countries in Africa. Katie declined to answer, stating how she needs “to get out more,” despite Nick prompting her to at least try. Soon after, Mearg “Magi” Tareke, a native of Ethiopia who appeared with Katie in Matt James’ season of The Bachelor, called out her former castmate. Magi said Katie should’ve been able to remember her home country, as well as Nigeria since Matt is half-Nigerian.
On her Instagram Story, Katie finally spoke up about the situation, which she is “embarrassed” by. Katie explained that she refused to provide an answer to Nick out of “fear of looking stupid and not wanting to guess the wrong thing.” She said, “I tried to just not answer the question. Some people are offended, appalled, even going so far as to question if I’m an ally, which is really upsetting to be honest. Short answer is, I ****ed up. I’m stupid. I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” The 30-year-old Bachelorette star added that she’s now trying to brush up on her African geography and learn “literally all” of the countries after feeling “mortified.” Katie said, “It was truly just a moment of blanking out, stage fright, fear. I don’t know what else to say, but I guess I have to acknowledge it at this point, for Magi at least, who was my housemate during Matt’s season.”
According to Katie, she and Magi have “spoken privately and have nothing but love and respect for each other.” She pleaded with fans to not spread any more negativity. But many aren’t taking kindly to her apology. On Reddit, a number of Bachelorette viewers felt that The Bachelorette‘s Katie was being passive-aggressive, manipulative and seeking sympathy by calling herself “stupid.” One user said, “She’s victimizing herself and she does not get it, nor does she care to. Definition of performative allyship.” They also didn’t like that she seemed to have an edge in the video. Another user said, “You can’t act this offended about your allyship being questioned if you truly wanna be an ally lmao. Yes it’s uncomfortable, acknowledge your error, sit back and learn.”
Still, others felt sympathy for Katie. They stated how it’s been years since they took a geography class and wouldn’t have been able to list four African countries under pressure either. It’s likely that Katie wasn’t trying to purposefully insult Africa or Magi, and never expected such criticism to stem from her podcast appearance. This may be why her Instagram video came off more harsh than many would’ve liked. Katie may have been dragged less if she took a breath before posting anything or simply reconciled with Magi offline. Regardless, Katie’s journey to find her husband on The Bachelorette will still probably garner millions of viewers as she and her final four suitors prepare for the hometown dates.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
Sources: Katie Thurston/Instagram, Reddit
