You can definitely call it a comeback — Matt James, the first Black ‘Bachelor,’ and Rachel Kirkconnell making their public debut as a couple … after the racism controversy that broke them up, and blew up the TV franchise.
The duo was all smiles as they showed up for the ESPYs Saturday night in NYC … and happily posed for photogs. Although we’ve known they were back together, they’ve been laying low.
They looked pretty stylish for their coming out — Matt, a former college football player, rocked a double-breasted plaid suit, while Rachel went with a very low-cut sheer black gown.
Quick refresher: Matt gave Rachel his final rose, but after pics surfaced of her at an antebellum south, plantation-themed college party … he broke up with her during the “After the Final Rose” special.
Matt said, “If you don’t understand that something like that is problematic in 2018, there’s a lot of me that you won’t understand.”
Matt framed the split as giving Rachel space to work on herself, and then a few weeks later … bam! We spotted them out together in Santa Monica — but they were obviously trying to keep it on the DL, as Matt covered up in shades and a hoodie.
Since then, we’ve also seen Matt and Rachel hanging out around NYC. So, with last night’s debut … it looks like they’ve fully worked things out!
Now they can get back to arguing, like every other couple.