Chris Harrison will not host the upcoming season of "The Bachelorette" following controversy over racially insensitive comments, and will instead be replaced with two former contestants, ABC Entertainment and Warner Horizon said in a statement.
Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe will pick up hosting duties for the show's next season, the statement issued late Friday said.
Harrison stepped down from hosting for "The Bachelor" in February following the controversy connected to an interview with "Extra." He had defended "Bachelor" contestant Rachael Kirkconnell after she was accused of racially insensitive past behavior. Past photos of her resurfaced in which she is dressed in costume as a Native American and at an antebellum plantation themed ball.
Harrison had defended Kirkconnell against what he called the "woke police" on social media during the interview. He later apologized for his comments, saying in a statement: "By excusing historical racism, I defended it."
"We support Chris in the work that he is committed to doing," ABC and Warner Horizon said Friday's statement. "As we continue the dialogue around achieving greater equity and inclusion within 'The Bachelor' franchise, we are dedicated to improving the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) representation of our crew."
Kirkconnell has also apologized for what she called her past "racist and offensive" actions.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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