The 'Bachelor' host doesn't want fans to compare Lincoln Adim's and Garrett Yrigoyen's recent controversies.
Fans won't see Lincoln Adim appearing on The Bachelorette: Men Tell All after his indecent assault and battery conviction -- and Chris Harrison thinks that's the way it should be.
ET's Lauren Zima spoke with The Bachelor host at the the special's taping last Friday, where he opened up about the season's recent scandals, and said he was glad that Adim didn't receive an invite. The special airs July 30 on ABC.
"I did not want him here nor did he deserve to earn the right to be here. He forfeited that right obviously with what he did, and lying to us and deceiving everybody," Harrison said. "So no, I'm very glad that he was not here and he was not extended an invitation."
It was revealed in June that Adim was convicted of indecent assault and battery a month earlier, stemming from a 2016 incident in Boston, Massachusetts, in which he was found guilty of groping and assaulting a woman on a harbor cruise ship.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office told ET at the time that Adim was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, and is expected to register as a sex offender. Adim did not respond to ET's request for comment, but in a statement to ET, Warner Bros. said, "No one on The Bachelorette production had any knowledge about the incident or charges when Lincoln Adim was cast, and he himself denied ever having engaged in or having been charged with any sexual misconduct." The studio also said they were investigating why their background check on Adim didn't include the information.
But that's not the only controversy that has plagued Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette. One of her frontrunners, Garrett Yrigoyen, admitted to liking Instagram posts mocking feminists, immigrants and Parkland shooting survivors. He apologized for his actions, and according to Harrison, the scandal shouldn't even be compared to Adim's.
"I have spoken to Garrett. And one thing I do wanna clear up too is that Garrett and Lincoln should not be in the same sentence," he said. "Garrett did something that you don't agree with, or that a lot of people don't agree with. And that's fine, that is your prerogative, and it might be mine too. That's not against the law. What Lincoln did was against the law, very different."
"There is a very big difference and people need to be very cognizant of that when they're just throwing out these sentences and lumping people together," he continued. "I've talked to Garrett, Becca's talked to Garrett. We've all talked to Garrett, and I feel like he expressed himself very well. I don't think it'll be the end of it -- obviously he's still very in the midst of all this. And I think he'll express more about that and we'll probably be able to deal with it more."
Harrison said he's "satisfied" with Garrett's apology, and Becca seems to have had the same reaction. She previously defended him in an interview with ET, and at Friday's Men Tell All taping, she reiterated that she hopes viewers remain "open" to varying opinions.
"I've said it before, but I want everyone to be open to these guys and get to know them. I was lucky enough to go on this journey with 28 men who I got to know aside from social media, and I got to know them for who they are and so that's something special to me," she shared. "I asked for it from the beginning, that America stays open to all 28 guys, and I just want that to continue for the rest of the journey."
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay also weighed in on the controversy during a recent interview with ET -- and offered her advice to Becca. See what she had to say in the video below.
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