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"TMZ is reporting that two African-American guys who auditioned for The Bachelor are going to sue ABC and the show&amp;#x27;s producers because they believe they were dismissed purely because of their race.The story says the two men showed up to a Nashville audition and were immediately separated from the group, left out of the normal process, and never called back. As a longtime viewer of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I&amp;#x27;ve spent many a season premiere shaking my head in disbelief. Sure, there&amp;#x27;s been a few contestants of color throughout the early rounds over the years. But there has never--never! in a combined 24 seasons (including the upcoming Bachelorette Emily Maynard)--been a Bachelor or Bachelorette who is African-American (not to mention Latino or Asian). I don&amp;#x27;t need tell you that this isn&amp;#x27;t exactly an accurate representation of America. Instead of the natural singles melting pot you&amp;#x27;d find on, say, OKCupid, we&amp;#x27;ve been treated to something like this: White. Whiter. Whitest. I don&amp;#x27;t know if it&amp;#x27;s the length of time the show&amp;#x27;s been on, its continually rising profile, or just the fact that I&amp;#x27;m a year older every time a new Bachelor starts up, but this imbalance has come to annoy me more than all the backstabbing and babytalk on the show combined. I&amp;#x27;ve always assumed that the show&amp;#x27;s utter lack of diversity stemmed from a combination of carelessness and historic showbiz inequalities. I&amp;#x27;ve also always assumed that the defining influence in the lives of the people casting The Bachelor is their childhood Barbie and Ken dolls. What I never would have assumed is that producers literally weed out African-Americans in the audition stage. I&amp;#x27;m sure they&amp;#x27;re going to push back against that charge. But hundreds of hours of Bachelor and Bachelorette footage doesn&amp;#x27;t help their case. In the end, whether or not producers blatantly send African-American contestants away, they certainly don&amp;#x27;t give them a fighting chance to be sent home, sobbing and limo-drinking, on-camera. Or to do the sending. From Survivor down to VH1&amp;#x27;s trashiest dating shows, you&amp;#x27;ll find a better ethnic mix on most reality TV shows. Plus, they&amp;#x27;re out of place on their own network. Consider the racial makeup of Dancing With the Stars, ABC&amp;#x27;s other blockbuster reality program. For crying out loud, there have practically been more African-American people on Revenge, which is more or less The White Problems of the White Housewives of White County, than there have been on The Bachelor. So here&amp;#x27;s my message to the producers: We love laughing at your show, but if this suit has merit, this is where things stop being funny. Fix this, and we&amp;#x27;ll be thankful on levels deep--now that looks more like our lives--and not-so-deep--it&amp;#x27;s hard to keep twelve honey-colored Brandons straight sometimes. Thanks. What&amp;#x27;s your take on this situation--and has this nagged at you guys, too, as you watch the shows? More reality TV... I Feel Like Christina Aguilera Officially Hates Being On The Voice Oh, You Know, Just Another Reason Our First Lady Completely Freaking Rules (Those ARMS, Mrs. O!) Real Housewives&amp;#x27; Daughters Dish on LuAnn de Lesseps, Vicki Guvalson, Sheree Witfield, Lisa Vanderpump and Caroline Manzo (VIDEO) Photo: YouTube"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2012/04/two-black-would-be-bachelors-a>