There's never been an Asian bachelor. But fans hope this 'Bachelorette' star changes that

Some “Bachelor” fans are calling for Ethan Kang, who was the only person of East Asian descent on this year's season of “The Bachelorette” and left in ninth place, to become the next “Bachelor” lead — and the first Asian bachelor.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star Simu Liu, who’s been outspoken about diversity on the reality dating show, posted his endorsement of the 27-year-old on Instagram after Kang was eliminated from the show on Aug. 15. Liu, a Canadian actor who was the first Asian superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, wrote “Make this man the Bachelor!! @ethankang1” in an Instagram Story that Kang reposted.

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Who is Ethan Kang?

Kang, who’s from Colorado and lives in New York City, is Korean American. He was one of 32 suitors on Season 19 of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” which stars Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey, and pursued Recchia until he was eliminated in Episode 6, right before hometown dates.

In August, he told the Clickbait podcast, which is one of the show’s three official “Bachelor” podcasts, that Liu's post was “the biggest endorsement I could ever ask for.”

Kang wrote in his own Instagram Story that “I’m honored to represent the AAPI community on this journey. As the only Asian male cast member I have taken extreme pride representing Asian Americans. I’m extremely humbled to be a voice for those underrepresented.”

‘They haven’t had an Asian bachelor yet’

“The Bachelor” which has aired 26 seasons since 2002, has never had a lead who is of Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (AANHPI) descent. In 2021, the franchise aired its first season with a Black bachelor, Matt James. In 2017, Rachel Lindsay was the first Black "Bachelorette" lead.

When asked whether he would consider becoming the next “Bachelor” lead, Kang had no hesitation on the Aug. 22 episode of “Clickbait."

“Yeah, of course,” Kang told Clickbait. “I mean, who doesn’t want their shot at 30 beautiful (women)? They haven’t had an Asian bachelor yet or an Asian bachelorette, as far as I’m concerned. So who knows? That would be pretty cool.”

“People are stirring up a storm on Twitter and Reddit,” he added.

In an Aug. 17 Instagram post, Kang called the show out for lacking "Asian representation."

"As a Korean-American man I want to say how truly honored I am to be the first full Asian-American to make it this far on The Bachelorette. With that said, why has it taken this damn long?" he wrote. "As the only Asian male this season, it made me think: where's the Asian representation? @bachelornation I believe love should never be discriminated by shape, color, creed, or sexual orientation!"

ABC and Warner Brothers declined to make Kang available for an interview with The Arizona Republic.

'Bachelor' fans have expressed support for Kang

Bachelor fan accounts, including The Blckchelorettes podcast, have backed Kang on social media. Hosts Victoria Price and Mikayla Bartholomew wrote a Patreon post that they called a “letter (that) operates as a call in, not call out, about a clear opportunity to support, uplift, amplify new narratives, new experiences, and different people.”

“How many more days (shoutout Game of Roses) will we go without ever having seen an Asian bachelor? When will we start really reimagining the kinds of narratives we amplify?” they wrote in the blog post. 

“Stereotypical portrayals and storylines … that reduce (AAPI people) to tropes, villains, 'model minorities,' mere tokens, hypersexualized or desexualized, of one whitewashed tone and not around for long, have been just about all this franchise has offered us as an audience. Ethan Kang has shifted that dramatically,” the post read.

If he were to become the bachelor, Kang told Clickbait, “I’m going to wear it with pride. I’m going to do my best to represent the Asian community, and I think that’s something that I could do.”

He added: “A lot of times in Western media today, Asians are kind of represented as the quieter, shier, nerdier doctor roles. … For that to be a role that I could potentially take on and have that first Asian love story on TV in arguably the biggest reality love show, yeah, that would be huge.”

Other 'Bachelor' seasons have had more Asian American representation

The “Bachelor” franchise, which includes “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and spin-off “Bachelor in Paradise,” has had a handful of contestants of Asian descent in recent years. Kang being the only AAPI person on Season 19 broke the trend from recent seasons. 

AAPI contestants from recent “Bachelor” seasons include Ency Abedin, Sierra Jackson, Jill Chin and Sarah Hamrick (Season 26 with Clayton Echard) as well as Serena Chew, Abigail Heringer and Serena Pitt (Season 25 with Matt James). Eunice Cho, Jasmine Nguyen and Tammy Ly appeared on Peter Weber’s Season 24.

As for male contestants, Pardeep Singh (Season 18 with Michelle Young); John Hersey and Andrew Milcovich (Season 17 with Katie Thurston) and Chris Conran, Joe Park and Ivan Hall (Season 16 with Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams) were on “The Bachelorette” in the past few years.

According to fan Suzana Somers, who analyzes various data from "The Bachelor" and other reality shows as @bachelordata, shared the ratio of white to non-white contestants on recent seasons from the "Bachelor" franchise. According to her analysis, since 2020, at least 40% of "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" casts have been comprised of people of color.

However, her graphs often show that white cast members have the most screen time in a given episode or season.

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AAPI are generally underrepresented on broadcast and romantic shows

Among the top 1,500 TV programs in 2021, 3.2% of broadcast shows had Asian representation — below their share of the U.S. population, which is estimated to be 6.4%, according to a Nielsen report published in May 2022. East Asians see more representation on screen, while people of Southeast Asian descent “are seen the least.”

The report, “Confronting myth & marginalization: Asian American audiences and on-screen representation,” reflects on why it’s important for historically underrepresented audiences to see themselves reflected in TV shows.

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“For the Asian American community who has experienced so much trauma in the past few years, being seen when tuning into media helps create a sense of connection and empowerment,” the report states.

But the context in which they’re presented “can also break or reinforce the perceptions about the community,” and “Asians are most frequently seen in science fiction and least seen in romance and entertainment.”

The historical underrepresentation of AAPI in romantic roles in American media is likely why Simu Liu has advocated for more AAPI representation on “Bachelor” shows. As he tweeted on June 8, 2021: “Annual ‘why are there no Asian dudes on the Bachelorette’ tweet.”

If some Bachelor Nation members have it their way, this will be the last time Liu can tweet about the show's lack of diversity.

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Reach Entertainment Reporter KiMi Robinson at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.

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