Bachelorette Contestant Lee Garrett Shares How He Was Cast

No episode of The Bachelorette would be complete without some serious drama among the contestants, and the June 5 episode was certainly no exception. One of the major sources of contention was Lee Garrett's repeated assertions that Eric is "aggressive," and teasers for next week indicate this will continue to be an issue.

Will is shown explaining to Lee that his behavior is racist and, based on a series of racist, bigoted tweets that recently came to light, it's safe to say that Will is on to something. Although Garrett quickly switched his Twitter account to "private," a little thing called screenshots show that he has some seriously negative views about Black Lives Matter, feminism, Islam, and the LGBTQ community.

All of this has us wondering exactly how Lee Garrett ended up being cast on The Bachelorette in the first place. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that took place before the season premiere, Garrett said he was scouted in Nashville:

"I got a message on Facebook from one of the show scouts saying, 'Lee! What would you think if I asked if you would be interested to try out for The Bachelorette?' It kind of shocked me. I thought, 'Me?' I had never seen the show before so I was honest and told them I don’t know much about it," he told the outlet. "I don’t see myself as the type of guy to really go on a show like that — because you think it’s a bunch of guys that are dashing and I’m a Mississippi boy. It wasn’t something that I ever thought I’d be doing. But I told them it intrigued me and then it went from there into six months of interviews and all kinds of things."

He also revealed that he didn't know that Rachel had been cast as the Bachelorette during his audition process, but claims he was thrilled when producers informed him that he'd be competing for her affections. "I had been watching and... Rachel was probably the classiest girl on the season and it was somethin’ else," Garrett said.

His tweets sparked anger among fans, especially because the show has finally taken a much needed step towards diversity. Some viewers have called for Garrett to be eliminated immediately.

Although ABC declined to comment, host Chris Harrison took to Twitter to state that he was unaware of the discriminatory tweets until they were uncovered by the media: