On her side. Bachelor Matt James reacted to Rachael Kirkconnell racism claims after a TikTok user accused the reality star of bullying her for dating Black men.

A TikTok video by @feministmama went viral in January 2021 after the user shared a 60-second video that exposed  Rachael for liking racist social media posts and associating herself with controversial groups. The user shared three social media screenshots that Rachael liked: one of two women in front of a Confederate flag, one of three women dressed in sombreros, ponchos and mustaches, and one of a woman in a “Make America Great Again” hat. The user also claimed that Rachael hasn’t voted in the past four general elections, sharing a screenshot of her voting history.

@Feministmama also shared screenshots of Rachael‘s parents supporting Donald Trump and other Republican politicians. According to the screenshots, her father donated to WinRed, a fundraising platform that supported Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election. The TikTok came after user @maddyybierster, a former of high school classmate of Rachael’s, who was allegedly bullied by her for dating Black men. “girlieee, remember when you bullied me in high school for liking black guys???” the user captioned a clip of Rachael on a date with Matt. After the TikTok went viral, the user shared several DMs from other women who claimed to have similar experiences with Rachael when it came to dating Black men.

@maddyybiersterBECAUSE I REMEMBER #BACHELO #bachelornationabc #BachelorReady #bachelor #bachelorgr #mattjames #fyp♬ Laughing Hard – Tik Tok

@maddyybiersterplease read each and every one ##bachelornationabc ##BachelorReady ##bachelor ##fyp ##IsThisAvailable♬ Bruh – Bruv.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, February 2, Matt was asked about the TikToks and claims that Rachael is a racist and bullied others for dating Black men. In his response, Matt claimed that he has spoken to any of his contestants since The Bachelor ended and called the claims “dark” and “nasty” rumors.

“I have not spoken to anybody since the show ended, but I would say that you have to be really careful about what you are doing on social media,” he said. “Rumors are dark and nasty and can ruin people’s lives. So I would give people the benefit of the doubt, and hopefully she will have her time to speak on that.”

He continued, “There’s a lot of stuff going around about the women that were involved in the show. I would just give them a chance to kind of have their piece, whether that is someone who was gone night one or someone who went home last night. Everyone has a story, and I would just be receptive to that.”

Matt’s response came after he told Rachael that he was falling in love with her on the Monday, February 1, episode of The Bachelor. “This has been a steady progression…since the first week,” he told Entertainment Tonight after the episode. “It was a feeling I hadn’t felt, and… this is nothing that [producers are] telling me to say or do, it’s just, I felt it in the moment and I had never felt it before.”