EW.com has discovered Nashville natives Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson followed through

EW.com has discovered Nashville natives Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson followed through with their threat to file a class action lawsuit against ABC and the producers of The Bachelor franchise for purposeful discrimination against people of color (African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans). The two African-American men and their lawyers discussed their hopes for what they think will be a “landmark civil rights case that will move social justice and economic equality forward.” Said attorney Cyrus Mehri, ”They’re doing their small part in the Unites States’ journey to be a more inclusive country, to be a more diverse country, and to be a country that is far more tolerant than this series would suggest.”

Both Claybrooks, an entrepreneur and former all-American football player, and Johnson, an aspiring NFL athlete and active community servant, applied during an open casting call for The Bachelor/ette in August 2011. While Claybrooks claimed that his interview process took less than half the time of white applicants in front of him, Johnson alleges he “did not get the opportunity to even make it to the second level” like Claybrooks. He explained, “I was stopped by a young gentleman about five feet into the door. He saw fit to ask me exactly what was I doing here.” Both men felt they were unfairly dismissed because of their race. “Looking back at how I was treated at the casting call last year, it was clear that that wasn’t possible—I never even had a chance,” said Claybrooks.
Mehri suggested this was not an isolated phenomenon. He said that executive producer and defendant Mike Fleiss’ insistence that the show does not get a enough applicants of color was “just pretext. We think they purposely do not want people of color on this show.” He said of his clients, “These two gentlemen have come forward and so have dozens of other people… all they’re seeking is an equal opportunity, an equal chance to compete.” He estimated there have been dozens, maybe even hundreds of contestants turned away based on race, then asked, “How do you explain zero [Bachelors and Bachelorettes of color] for 23 [seasons]?”

That is very true! Doesn’t ABC look at demographic data?

Warner Horizon Television, one of the producers of The Bachelor, responded to the allegations on Wednesday, saying they are “baseless and without merit.”

Do you think they were discriminated against? What would Nancy Lee say?