If you’re watching The Bachelor tonight, you just saw me and a few key members of the Cosmo team put the contestants through a challenge that, for us, is basically another day at the office: a fashion shoot in extreme conditions under lots of pressure to beat the clock and get the shots we need for the magazine. Of course, this time, there were eight TV cameras, dozens of producers, and a bunch of extremely eager single people in the mix. The stakes were high all around!



As you probably know, the details about upcoming plot points on The Bachelor are as closely guarded as nuclear codes. When my team and I flew down to Costa Rica for our challenge, we weren’t told who our models were going to be. We didn’t even meet them until we were all on camera on-set, ready to start our shoot.

So when it came time for me to choose the winner of the challenge—whose prize was a digital cover of Cosmo—all I knew about the contestants were their first names and the energy they conveyed through the camera lens.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I found out that the woman I’d chosen had, in her past, modeled in an ad campaign wearing White Lives Matter attire.

(It’s been reported that what she modeled for was actually a Marlin Lives Matter organization focused on preventing white and blue marlin from being overfished, which used “white lives matter” and “blue lives matter” messaging on its promotional shirts and hats. In my view, the nature of the organization is neither here nor there—both phrases and the belief systems they represent are rooted in racism and therefore problematic.)

Unequivocally, the White Lives Matter movement does not reflect the values of the Cosmo brand. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and any cause that fights to end injustices for people of color.

My team and I had many long discussions about how we wanted to address this issue. We’d already printed the fashion shoot in our March issue, complete with an inset of the cover, and of course the episode had already been filmed. Ultimately what felt right was choosing not to publish the digital cover on our website or social feeds, and simply being honest with you, the audience we respect, about what happened and where we stand.