The former Bachelor broke things off with Rachael Kirkconnell amid her racism controversy.
Matt James' brother is giving an update on the former Bachelor's state of mind following the conclusion of his season of the show. On Friday's episode of Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathan's Higher Learning podcast, John James, a rapper who goes by John the Scorpio, said Matt is "doing good" after his split from Rachael Kirkconnell.
On Monday's finale, Matt professed his love for Rachael and the pair decided to leave the show in a committed relationship, though not engaged. On After the Final Rose, though, Matt revealed that he'd broken up with Rachael amid her racism controversy.
Following the finale, Matt tweeted, "Google therapist near me." After seeing that tweet, John said he called his brother to "see where his head was at."
"He's in a good spot. He's good. People don't need to worry about Matt," John said. "What he's dealing with right now, it's kind of like he's going through a detox phase of all the stuff he was dealing with, ABC and being in the spotlight and doing interviews."
"He's in a better place," he added. "People don't need to worry about how he is because he's doing good."
Rachael's past actions came to light in January, when a TikTok user accused the graphic designer of previously bullying her for dating Black men. Then, another user accused her of liking racist photos. Pics have also surfaced of her at an Old South plantation-themed party while in college. Rachael has since apologized and asked people to stop defending her actions.
After Matt split with Rachael, telling her on After the Final Rose, "I had to take a step back for you to put in that work that you outlined that you needed to do," the former Bachelor received a slew of racist insults online. In a post to her Instagram Story, Rachael, who still believes her ex is the love of her life, called those posts "repulsive."
While John didn't address Rachael's past actions directly, he did speak to racism in America, revealing that he tries not to let what people say about him and about his brother affect his mental health.
"I don't think any person of color likes experiencing racism, but I'm at a place now where my mentality, how I perceive life, that doesn't affect me, because I don't allow it to," John said. "I just feel bad for the person that has that mindset. If that's how they feel, that's pathetic. I can't do anything about it, that's out of my control. Things that are out of my control I try not to focus on."
John gained a group of fans after his appearance on the Bachelor finale, when he and his mom, Patty, met Matt's final two women, Rachael and Michelle Young. John expressed his support for his brother's journey on the show, but admitted on the podcast that he didn't believe in the process itself.
"When I went there, I had this conversation with my mom, I said, 'This, to me, is not what I perceive personally as reality in an actual real dynamic that someone would experience in everyday life,'" John recalled. "... I couldn't really take [the show] seriously because who in their right mind could come to a serious conclusion in two, three months for a lifetime decision? Logically in my brain that's how I think."
It's for that reason, John said, that he'd never be the Bachelor himself, despite calls from fans for him to be the next franchise lead.
"As far as me coming on the show and doing what my brother, what we went through, I'm not the right one for that, no," he said. "... I have different views on marriage, so that's another reason why I wouldn't be the right candidate for that. I don't believe in marriage, personally."
"A lot had to with what my parents went through, and what I've seen other people go through," John added, alluding to his father's absence throughout his and Matt's childhood. "Personally, I just think the whole concept behind marriage is a religious type of... like, it stems from that. I'm not really into religion, so I'm good on that."
After his comment about his parents' relationship, John spoke about Matt's televised conversation with their father, Manny. During Matt and Manny's chat, the former Bachelor emotionally confronted his dad on being absent throughout his childhood. The talk ended with Manny apologizing to his son, and Matt saying it was a good "first step" in their relationship.
Rachel Lindsay, however, previously said on the Bachelor Party podcast that she felt "so disturbed" after watching the father-son conversation on TV.
"What’s the one thing we know about his dad? That he wasn’t around. That's it. That's all we know, which, if you know anything about stereotypes that are assigned to particular races, here, the Black race, you know that absentee fathers is a stereotype," she said. "... If the Bachelor franchise has shown us anything, it's that they don't know how to protect people of color, they only know how to exploit them. They only know how to mishandle situations when they come to race. That is what they've shown time and time again. This should've never been aired."
While John agreed with Rachel to a point, he noted that he "could still see the positive that came out of it."
"I definitely feel as if that situation was exploited a little in a sneaky way for whatever agenda they thought might've benefited them," he said. "But that was a real conversation. I think we all felt that."
Matt agreed with his brother's stance, revealing on The Bill Simmons Podcast that the conversation actually sparked a renewed relationship with his father.
"[Producers] asked if I wanted him to come. I'm like, 'Absolutely,'" Matt explained. "But at this point, I'm spilling my heart to everybody. I'm like, 'There's nothing that's going to be secret about my life after this experience, so why not bring him into it? Because this is a chance to mend our relationship.'"
To prepare for the meeting, Matt had his mom reach out to his dad to prepare him for what kind of conversation this would be.
"I'm like, 'Let Dad know that this isn't going to be a kumbaya. We're not going to be roasting s'mores by the fire,'" Matt recalled. "Unfortunately, I don't think he was trying to hear that, so when he got there, he didn't really understand the context of our conversation, which is frustrating because that was kind of their relationship in a nutshell."
But the miscommunication was worth it to Matt, as "it did lead to a positive outcome."
"I have a great relationship with him moving forward, but that was tough. That was a tough conversation," Matt admitted. "... After we had that conversation, it was emotional, it was heated, it was a lot of back-and-forth. I didn't know how that would place into the programming because of how raw it was."
"The last thing I wanted to do was perpetuate stereotypes about Black males... but ultimately I'm not in that editing room, I'm just living this experience out as it's going," he continued. "It led to me and my dad fostering our relationship and him reaching back out to my brother, so I try to find the good through the craziness."
Though seeing the rawness of that conversation onscreen was hard for Matt, it made him realize how few times throughout the season things of a similarly emotional nature aired.
"There were a lot of conversations like that and it's unfortunate that a lot of that was overshadowed by some of the drama that was going on during the season," Matt said. "Because we're at the end of the season and no one knows anything about me."
"I'm like, 'I've been telling these women everything about me. They know me! They know why I tick the way I do, why that's important,' but the viewer didn't," he continued. "That part was a little bit frustrating, but all you can do is try to be a good person and that's what I tried to do throughout the season."
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