Former 7 News Reporter and ex-Bachelorette Georgia Love has finally broken her silence after a string of controversies left the reality TV star copping a metric tonne of criticism.
In an interview with Stellar Magazine, Love reflected on how the last few months have treated her and the lessons she has learned along the way.
“People need to be kinder. And that includes me,” said the reality star-turned public relations manager.
“Reading anonymous people’s nasty words wasn’t going to help anything.
“Everyone expects everyone to do everything right all the time.
“I feel like anyone with any kind of profile is just sitting in wait until someone finds something that they’ve done wrong.
“The past two years have been so hard for so many people, and I think the one thing I’m disappointed with is that people seem to have lost their empathy and understanding of people being humans.
Love is primarily referencing an incident that occurred in September of 2021 in which posted, deleted and then apologised for an Instagram Story that was criticised as racially insensitive towards Asian communities.
The video depicted a cat sitting behind the glass doors of an Asian restaurant, with text asking if the cat was a “shop attendant or lunch?”.
Many felt let down by Georgia’s actions including Masterchef Australia judge Melissa Leong.
“Casual racism from nice people is possibly the most betraying and insidious kind,” Leong wrote in an Instagram Story
“Not angry, just completely bummed that this video exists and that it isn’t the first joke of this kind made by her.”
After Love’s original video was shared by the anonymous Instagram account Aussie Influencer Opinions, the former bachelorette apologised.
“(I) meant for this to be a joke about an animal being in a restaurant at lunch service” Love wrote before admitting it was indeed “offensive”.
Love was taken off the air by Channel 7 in the days following the video being uploaded. The network then moved her to an off-camera role before she eventually decided to depart the company.
Critics of Love’s offensive post also called out an upload from 2013 in which Love shared a culturally insensitive meme with the caption “best”.
Love also found herself in hot water after the ex-journo and her husband Lee Elliot (who she met on her season of The Bachelorette) travelled to Saudi Arabia as tourists.
In her conversation with Stellar, Love emphasised that she did not condone the Saudi government’s human rights violations. She did however, argue that folks should be allowed to travel to experience the world and the various cultures within it.
In photos they uploaded of their trip, the couple tagged the official tourism bureau of Saudi Arabia. However, Love and Elliot have since claimed that they were “not being paid” to be there as per the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail also reported that Love received the trip in exchange for social media posts as opposed to cash.
Saudi Arabia only opened to tourists in 2019 but has been the subject of intense criticism over its human rights record.
Many fans felt that Love should have been more critical of the Middle Eastern nation and refused to visit. She has since deleted all traces of the Saudi trip from her social media pages.
Love also used the interview to highlight how supportive her husband has been during the past few years.
“My number-one support person now is Lee.”
“He’s been incredible. I’m very grateful to have him, [as well as the] support from everyone who knows and loves me,” she told Stellar.
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