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What's Up With Corinne's "Cleaning Lady" Dis?

Erin Donnelly
March 8, 2017, 6:45 PM
Photo: Courtesy of ABC.
Pictured: Corinne explains it all.
Bachelor Nation has learned by now that there's little to be gained by taking on Corinne Olympios and some of the questionable soundbites that come out of her mouth. Roll your eyes all you want, but half the audience during Monday night's The Women Tell All special was wearing "Make America Corinne Again" and "Vagine" merchandise.
It was easy enough to shake off the controversial Bachelor contestant's digs at sworn enemy Taylor, who was probably the only person on the planet who thought there might be a shot in hell of getting an apology for being called a "swamp monster." Of course Corinne isn't sorry. Of course she stormed off at one point to fetch a glass of champagne. Of course she made everyone eat her damn cheese pasta. She doesn't care. She's too busy making America Corinne again.
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There is, however, one thing that Corinne cares about, and it's Raquel. During her time on the "hot seat" with Chris Harrison, she took great pains to explain her special relationship with the woman she constantly referred to as her "nanny."
"Raquel is a very, very special person, she's someone that's been there with me through the hardest times in my life, when I didn't have anybody else," she told Harrison, referencing her mother's battle with ovarian cancer. "Raquel was there. She was my rock. She moved from New Jersey to Florida to be with my family during this time."
She went on to try and clarify Raquel's role.
"And when I said 'nanny,' I said it in a way to not call her a cleaning lady or a housekeeper, because I care about her," she explained. "And you know what, I don't want to disrespect her by using the wrong word. She's so important to me."
Jasmine then chimed in to apologize for her reaction to learning that Corinne, a grown woman, had a nanny. Harrison pointed out that it was easy to "misconstrue" Corinne's nanny comments, and she agreed.
"Raquel is a godsend to me and I'll never disrespect her," she told everyone. "At that moment I didn't really know what else to call her because there's no way in hell I would ever call her a cleaning lady."
Oof. No offense, cleaning ladies!
While many of the girls seemed to accept this and applauded, Kristina — who, moments later, would remind everyone that her mother kicked her out of the house at age 5 or 6 for eating lipstick — winced and seemed to mouth the words "you just did [call her a cleaning lady]." She and a similarly unimpressed-looking Danielle M. exchanged a look.
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Nobody is doubting that Corinne and Raquel, whatever her official title, have a close relationship. But in trying to defend that, Corinne made it sound like being a cleaning lady or housekeeper or other domestic worker was inferior. By trying to not disrespect Raquel, she showed disrespect for those who perform the household chores we'd rather avoid. And it didn't go unnoticed.
It's hard to not think of that The Office "Diversity Day" scene in which Michael Scott (Steve Carell) asks Oscar (Oscar Nunez), "Is there a term besides Mexican that you prefer? Something less offensive?"
"Mexican isn't offensive," the accountant, whose parents are Mexican, responds.
"Well, it has certain connotations," Michael persists, really putting his foot in it.
Maybe Raquel can just be Corinne's "Raquel." And maybe one day this "multimillion-dollar-businesswoman" will clue in to the fact that she has it pretty good, and there's no reason to dis people — including the hotel employee who fluffed her pillows and catered to her every whim —who helped make it even easier and who, like her, take pride in their work.

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