Tracy Shapoff, a contestant on the upcoming season of ‘The Bachelor,’ issued a lengthy apology after a slew of offensive tweets resurfaced.
This blast to the past is not looking good on Tracy Shapoff, 31, who’s competing on Season 23 of The Bachelor. The wardrobe stylist’s tweets from 2011 and earlier have recently made rounds for their insensitive remarks, which are mostly taking heat for fat-shaming. She is now claiming “full responsibility” for the hurtful comments, and insisted that the remarks from her early 20s don’t “reflect” her character today. “I want to start by expressing my sincerest apologies for the extremely hurtful words that I said many years ago. I’m so sorry for those who I have offended,” her Instagram message (below) began on Dec. 7. “I am beyond mortified that I ever had those thoughts and then proceeded to express them. By no means does this reflect the person who I am today.”
“To the people who do not know me, I am a loving, kind, thoughtful, generous, and compassionate woman,” she continued. “I am not mean-hearted or hurtful. The people I have always surrounded myself with are very diverse and come from all over the world.” She later pointed out that she’s now working in a field “where [she’s] able to help women and men have positive images of themselves, their bodies, and feel beautiful in who they are.” Towards the end of her apology letter, the ABC star owned up to her actions as she stated, “I do not defend any of the words I have tweeted, I just want to deeply apologize and learn from my mistakes. I wholeheartedly reject all of those sentiments. That being said, I take full responsibility for my tweets and will use this as a learning experience. I hope that we can continue to spread love and kindness in the world.” You can read the full apology below!
It appears that Tracy has deleted her Twitter account, but screenshots of her old tweets can be seen below. In a post from March 2010, she wrote, “Wish these fat old women on the treadmill would shut the hell up stop dancing and just work out.” In another tweet from 2010, she even used the R-word: “Liposuction is retarded…stop wasting your money and just get your fat a** to the gym.” In the following year, she used the “fat” label once again and tweeted, “Wow its really cool when u goto get in a cab and some fat prick w/ veneers flips out bc he claims he hailed it first…ahole.” Despite the initial backlash, some fans have already accepted Tracy’s apology. “Thank you for acknowledging this Tracy!” one Bachelor fan account wrote.
Neither ABC nor Colton Underwood, the “Bachelor” of the upcoming season, have commented on the controversy. However, host Chris Harrison said that Tracy made a “flashy first impression” and could “find herself [at] the center of drama night one,” after the Season 23 contestants were revealed on Dec. 6. Spooky premonition!
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