Season 21 of “The Bachelor” on ABC premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET. The immensely popular show returns for the first time after JoJo Fletcher got engaged to Jordan Rodgers (brother of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers) on “The Bachelorette” finale last summer.
Many people are excited for the new season, but one NBA legend doesn’t seem too pumped about it.
Hall of Fame center and Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter on Monday and outlined many of his criticisms with the show.
“The shows’ mantra repeated by most castmembers that ‘everyone deserves love’ ain’t necessarily so,” Abdul-Jabbar writes. “You’re not even in the running for love unless you fit a very narrow ideal of Ken and Barbie doll physical beauty.”
“These shows promote the scorched-earth effects of raising females to be continually judged physically above all other attributes and then measured against impossible physical standards that has marginalized a majority of girls and women — and made billions for the beauty products, clothing, and cosmetic surgery industries.”
Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t mention Nick Viall, the 36-year-old software salesman making his fourth appearance on the show, this time as “The Bachelor.” Maybe Viall will help change Abdul-Jabbar’s opinion of the show, but we wouldn’t bet on it.
Thumbnail photo via Jack Gruber/USA TODAY NETWORK
