Setting the record straight. Bachelor 2021 Matt James responded to claims he doesn’t date Black women. As Bachelor Nation members know, Matt made history in June 2020 when he was announced as the franchise’s first Black Bachelor in 25 seasons. (Overall, he’s the third Black lead after season 13 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay and season 16 Bachelorette Tayshia Adams.)

In a recent episode of Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo’s podcast, Talking It Out With Mike & Bryan, Matt responded to claims he hasn’t dated Black women before his season of The Bachelor. “People for some reason think I don’t like Black women,” he said. “The last women I’ve dated have all been Black women. I don’t understand why that’s so hard for people to understand. People should want you to be happy, regardless of if they’re white, they’re Black, they’re Asian, whatever. I’ve dated all across the board.”

Matt went on to compare his relationship history to the premiere of The Bachelor season 25, which saw him date women of multiple ethnicities.  “My dating life looks like what we saw on night one [of the show],” he said. “Spanish women, white women, Asian women, Black women. Everything that I’ve ever dated and what I’m into isn’t race-specific, and when you’re looking for things that aren’t race-specific, you have to have a broad cast of characters to fill all those things, and thank goodness they had it, because it allowed me to enjoy the process the way that I did.”

Source: Instagram

As for what Matt is looking for in his next relationship, he told the podcast hosts that he simply wants beautiful on the inside. “A down-to-earth, genuine person,” he said. “And that is ambiguous of what you look like. Because I’ve dated beautiful women—well, I would say I’ve dated people who I thought were beautiful, and then I’ve dated people who other people would be like, ‘You’re dating her?’ The people who they were kind of skeptical about were the best relationships I had because they were caring, they were compassionate, we respected each other.”

He continued, “What I’m looking for is someone who I can spend my life with and the qualities I’m looking for have so little do with what you look like and so much more about where your heart is, and what type of person you are.”

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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