Rachael Kirkconnell’s mother, Kim Kirkconnell has spoken out on some of the controversy surrounding her daughter after filming for The Bachelor.
Viewers have been following the drama surrounding the Bachelor frontrunner and were very curious when it came time to meet her parents during hometown dates.
Viewers were surprised to see that Rachael’s dad, Darrell Kirkconnell, and many began to wonder if he was Hispanic. This would make Rachael a woman of color.
After the hometown dates episode aired, Kim reached out to The Sun and told the outlet that Rachael is, in fact, part Latina through her father.
She explained that Darrell’s parents were both born in Honduras.
Rachael’s mom explains the racist pictures
Kim spoke on behalf of her daughter after she had posted pictures of herself at an Antebellum party. Additionally, Rachael has liked some pictures with racist messages– one of those being a picture of three girls dressed like Mexican men for Halloween.
Considering that Rachael is Latina, a whole extra layer of complexity has been added to these actions.
Her mother explained that since liking the picture of the Mexican costumes is racist, Rachael has come to realize that she supported cultural appropriation and regrets doing it entirely.
“Rachael is ashamed about liking this photo that was posted by a friend. In 2015 she was not yet educated about cultural appropriation and the many forms it takes but she grew to fully understand how hurtful it is to wear someone’s culture as a costume,” Kim told the outlet.
She added, “Cultural appropriation was not okay then and it’s not okay now, and she is sorry to every person she offended by liking that photo.”
Kim also explained that Rachael was involved with the Black Lives Matter movement in the Summer of 2020 and has been educating herself on racial injustice.
“Rachael had already been educating herself on how to be actively anti-racist and took a stand against the injustices that took place over the summer,” Kim explained. “She donated, signed petitions, made the conscious effort to listen and learn, and encouraged other white allies to do the same on her social media.”
Kim addresses her and her husband’s political stances
Fans also have expressed that Kim and Darrell have extreme right-wing political views. They have called Kim and Darrell Trump supporters and cited donations made to Trump’s 2020 campaign in their name. They have also found evidence that they are registered Republicans.
During the interview, Kim specifically expressed that she does not support Donald Trump and implied that Darrell felt the same way as her, although she did not expressly say so.
“I don’t understand how your voting registration supports that you are a racist. I am not in support of Donald Trump’s rhetoric and was horrified by the riot on the capitol,” she stated.
It is inevitable that Rachael will have to address the topic publicly on live television during The Bachelor’s After The Final Rose special.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.