Reality Check: 'Bachelorette' fan petition demands apology

On “The Bachelorette” season 21 finale and live “After the Final Rose” special Tuesday, millions of viewers witnessed star Jenn Tran’s heartbreaking reaction, sobbing on live TV, as she watched video of herself proposing to Devin Strader — who despite often professing his love on-air ended their engagement off-camera and very publicly began following other women on Instagram. Tran then had to face him on the special.

“He showed up exactly who I thought he was going to show up as,” Tran, 26, told the entertainment-news program “Extra” while in New York to promote the upcoming season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” on which she is paired with ballroom pro Sasha Farber. “That’s a version of himself that he’s been showing for the past month” and unlike his persona on “The Bachelorette.”

“I knew it was going to be a hard night for me to finally, like, process it all with the world,” she said. Strader at least did return the engagement ring she had given him. “I don’t know where the ring is,” she told “Extra.” “It’s somewhere. It’s insignificant at this point.”

While Tran confirmed to Us Weekly she understood the proposal had to air, the finale showed host Jesse Palmer pretending to offer her and Strader an option not to see in front of millions. “I know you haven’t seen it yet,” he said. “What do you think? Should we all watch it together?”

“Do I have a choice?” Tran replied bitterly.

Tran’s highly public heartbreak has incensed some fans of the show who initiated an online petition calling for the producers to be fired.

“As [the franchise’s] first Asian lead, the program failed to protect Jenn Tran at any point during this process,” the Change.org petition reads. “What was allowed to be [broadcast] last night was vile. To have Jenn watch the proposal next to Devin while livestreaming her reaction is a level of cruelty I didn’t expect from a show that is supposed to be based around love.”

Calling Tran “traumatized by these events,” the petition went on to state, “It is a danger to women, especially women of color, to be put through such mental stress for the sake of ratings. The producers should have protected Jenn instead of capitalizing [from] her pain.”

The petition demands “an apology from ABC. Everyone involved should be ashamed.”

Premieres

The streaming service Hallmark Movies Now is becoming Hallmark Plus, and helping inaugurate it is “Celebrations with Lacey Chabert,” premiering early Tuesday. The actor and Hallmark staple and a team of professional party planners, celebrity friends and others throw surprise parties for individuals who are making a positive impact in their communities … Early Wednesday on the streamer Netflix, online influencers variously catfish and connect with each other in a social media showdown for $100,000 on season 7 of “The Circle” … and Sunday on TLC, Kody Brown and his “Sister Wives” Christine, Janelle, Meri and Robyn are back for a 19th season of polygamy — or not so much since all but Robyn have moved on.

Recaps

The quarterfinals have wrapped on “America’s Got Talent,” as the dance troupe Brent Street, magician Solange Kardinaly and singer Pranysqa Mishra now round out the top 12 who have made the semifinals.