Lamar Hurd wants to be the first black “Bachelor.”
The Fox Sports Northwest college basketball analyst has released a nearly 10-minute-long audition video in an effort to jump start a grassroots campaign — complete with rose-decorated T-shirts — to be cast on the next season of the ABC reality dating show.
The audition tape, posted on YouTube late last month, has already been viewed more than 10,000 times. Meanwhile, “Bachelor” bloggers have responded to the call to arms and have started promoting him as a legitimate candidate for the upcoming Season 17.
Popular interest in Hurd’s campaign resulted in his landing a meeting with the network yesterday, according to EW.com.
If he is chosen to be the next “Bachelor” looking for love, Hurd would become the first African-American picked to star in what has been criticized as being a largely white-washed series.
As Portland-based Hurd notes in the video, one of the reasons he was initially reluctant to toss his name in the hat was precisely because “they haven’t even had a black bachelor” yet.
An ABC spokesperson said that the network doesn’t comment on casting rumors and speculation.