Harrison weathered widespread criticism online for remarks he made about Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell attending a “plantation-themed” party in 2018. In an Extra interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, Harrison argued for “a little understanding, a little compassion” on Kirkconnell’s behalf, and questioned whether attending such a party would’ve been considered problematic in 2018.

While he issued an apology soon afterward, the fallout led to Harrison, 51, stepping down from his role as host of the Bachelor franchise after 19 years at the helm.

Speaking about his experience on the inaugural episodes of The Most Dramatic Podcast… Ever, Harrison expressed regret at not having established a platform for himself to have addressed the controversy at the time.

“Good or bad, I think there is this new model that I saw—and it’s not whether you agree with them or not, it’s just what I saw—whether it was Joe Rogan or Dave Chappelle speak out when they were going through similar type things publicly, they had a platform,” he said while speaking with his fiancée Lauren Zima.

“And I saw that and I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I could rewind six months—this is what I would have done,”’ he continued. “I would have sat down here with you and with you at home to have this conversation and to able to just speak with you directly. Because you’re the ones I care about, you’re the ones that matter.”

While former Fear Factor host Rogan enjoys immense popularity as Spotify’s most listened-to podcaster, he weathered a storm of controversy over comments made on some installments of The Joe Rogan Experience.

In 2021, he was widely criticized by hundreds of medical and scientific experts for airing false statements on vaccines and the COVID pandemic on his show. He also came under fire for his repeated use of the N-word across multiple episodes. Rogan apologized amid the backlash and also said that the clips shared on social media had been taken out of context.

Comedian Chappelle, meanwhile, previously received criticism for his 2021 Netflix special, The Closer, where he made jokes that targeted transgender people. At the time, members of the LGBTQ+ community and advocacy groups slammed Chappelle, and hundreds of Netflix employees even walked out of the company’s Los Gatos, California, headquarters in protest after its release.

Chappelle, who co-hosts podcast The Midnight Miracle, continued to work amid the controversy. In November 2022, he hosted an episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

Elsewhere in his podcast episode, Harrison spoke about how the timing of his comments likely fed into the backlash he had received, describing a “very combustible moment in time” in early 2021 that came amid the COVID-19 pandemic and followed anti-racism protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

“My apology was warranted. I had no problem putting out that first apology,” the TV personality said. “But there was just so much noise at the time, it just didn’t matter. Apologies didn’t matter. Even after that apology, we were still at ground zero. It was confusing and it was scary.”

The Texas native also said that he found himself being “used” as a symbol on both sides of the political aisle among debates.

“My name became synonymous with this political, lightning-in-a-bottle moment, and all of a sudden someone on CNN is talking about me for purposes of the left,” he said. “And then Ben Shapiro and whoever else is talking about me… so I was being used by the right.”

Harrison further spoke of “certain cast members” who were actively campaigning to take over his coveted job in the weeks after his interview with Lindsay had sparked backlash. He pointed out that other cast members, including Jake Pavelka, Ben Higgins, and Sean and Catherine Lowe, offered him support.

Ultimately, Harrison said that he made the difficult decision to depart his role as host after hitting “breaking point” and feeling a need to “step away and get my life back.”

Despite his departure, Harrison said that he holds “no animosity” toward the team behind the Bachelor franchise and “will forever be grateful” for the opportunities the ABC hit afforded him.