Here’s How The Bachelorette Handled Garrett Yrigoyen’s Social Media Scandal – Today’s News: Our Take

Garret Yrigoyen, the man Becca Kufrin chose on the season finale of The Bachelorette, was at the center of a controversy early in the season when posts he’d liked on Instagram surfaced including one that cruelly mocked undocumented immigrants, liberal women and trans people and one post that posited a conspiracy theory that the activist survivors of the Parkland shooting are paid actors.

He apologized in a statement on Instagram, writing “I am sorry to those who I offended, and I also take full responsibility for my ‘likes’ on Instagram that were hurtful and offensive,” Garrett wrote on his new Instagram, after deleting his former account. “This is all new to me… I never realized the power behind a mindless double tap on Instagram and how it bears so much weight on people’s lives. I did not mean any harm by any of it. My Instagram ‘likes’ were not a true reflection of me and my morals.”

Since he was still on the show as it was airing at the time, he couldn’t give any interviews defending himself, so Becca had to do it for him. She told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that the likes didn’t reflect who he really is and that people should give him a chance.

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On Monday’s season finale, where Garrett made his first public appearance as Becca’s fiancé, he basically repeated what he said in his statement from May. “I didn’t realize the effect behind a double tap or a like on Instagram. So I put out an apology. I didn’t mean to offend anybody, I apologize for that still,” Garrett said. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings or do anything like that. So I stand by everything that I posted in my apology, and I’m just trying to grow as a person, be a better person on a daily basis.” He added that he was worried he was going to lose Becca over the controversy, and that he doesn’t stand by the posts.

“The Instagram situation, I don’t condone that,” Becca said. “I know he stands by his apology, and he feels so bad for everyone that he did offend. And, you know, he didn’t mean it. But I just want to move forward and to learn and to grow and to continue to educate ourselves.” Becca’s Twitter header image is an illustration of Joe Biden, so the things Garrett liked go against things she believes in, like equality and feminism.

Neither Garrett nor Becca nor Chris Harrison addressed the actual content of the posts he liked or how Becca and Garrett are reconciling their different beliefs or what Garrett is doing to “grow as a person.”

They addressed the controversy further with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America Tuesday morning. Strahan asked him what he’s doing to win back Becca (and America’s) trust. He said basically the same thing he said on The Bachelorette about how he’s sorry and the likes don’t reflect his true character. Becca said that they’ve talked about it and have worked through it and that dealing with the controversy has made them a stronger couple.

“Now I know the weight that a like holds on Instagram…” Garrett responds to social media firestorm in @BacheloretteABC couple’s off-screen drama: https://t.co/QRS4Pl1AFx pic.twitter.com/aFx3zhxmyG

— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 7, 2018

If Garrett specifically apologizes for endorsing the substance of the posts, not just for offending people, and talks about what he’s learned and how he’s changing, we’ll be able to move on from this controversy. But we’re not there yet.