Days after the most uncomfortable Bachelor finale in history, Rachael Kirkconnell, a.k.a. the antebellum party girl who was dumped by Matt James, is expressing ire to her supporters over how they’re behaving in the aftermath of the couple’s breakup. Posting to Instagram Stories on March 17, Kirkconnell said she was aware of the rampant online vitriol directed at James across social media, which included comments on her personal Instagram page. She has since disabled comments on a few of her photographs. “I am taken aback by what I’ve seen tonight. If you think that attacking a person I care about with racist insults is what I would ever want, you haven’t been listening,†Kirkconnell wrote. “Some of the things I’ve seen being said to and about Matt are repulsive. I respect the decisions that Matt has had to make during this experience. If you are directing hate towards him, please stop. Recognize someone’s humanity and think about the impact your words have.â€
On Monday’s Bachelor finale, James confirmed that he and Kirkconnell are no longer a couple because of her racist and offensive past behaviors. (They concluded the season committing to each other as romantic partners as opposed to doing a conventional proposal.) While the season aired, it became public knowledge that Kirkconnell had attended an antebellum-themed party during college and had a history of “liking†Confederate imagery on social media. When asked about this during the finale, James said that learning the extent of Kirkconnell’s past was “heartbreaking†and that she “might not understand what it means to be Black in America.†He added, “If you don’t understand that something like that is problematic in 2018, there’s a lot of me that you won’t understand. It’s as simple as that.†James also reiterated that he has zero intention of reconciling with her.