Bachelorette Hannah Brown Offers Tearful Video Apology for Using N-Word

It's been two weeks since "Bachelorette" Hannah Brown dropped the n-word live via Instagram while singing along to DaBaby' "Rockstar." After initially denying that it had happened and then offering up a brief apology, Brown has since been silent.

In the wake of George Floyd's death while under police custody in Minneapolis on May 25, Brown is offering up a more heartfelt and thoughtful apology in an 18-minute video.

"The death of George Floyd is happening and there’s so much suffering and anger I didn’t want to offend anybody," she said about her hesitation in speaking out now when there are "Black Lives Matter" protests occurring nationwide, she ultimately realized "it's not about the right time. It's about the right thing."

"I don’t think the right thing right now is to be silent," she said at the to of her video. "I hope that I’m not offending anybody. This is coming from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely don’t want to hurt anybody else. I want to be a part of the solution."

George Floyd was killed while handcuffed and face-down on the concrete with four officers reportedly kneeling on him. Former officer Derek Chauvin was captured on video with his knee on Floyd's neck, a position he held for nearly nine minutes (several of those after Floyd had lost consciousness).

Amid pleas for relief, Floyd was captured saying, "I can't breathe," which has become one of the rallying cries in the latest protests. Chauvin was ultimately arrested on 3rd degree murder charges. The other three officers have not been charged, but were fired from their jobs, as was Chauvin.

While it may seem awkward timing for Brown to come forward now to address her n-word controversy, it's actually incredibly appropriate. White privilege is a huge part of the current movement, and that requires a greater understanding of just what that means.

It also demands, as Lady Gaga recently said in her own statement on Floyd's death, that all communities step up alongside the black community and demand better. Acknowledging your privilege is just one step toward affecting change, but it is an important one.

Brown has clearly taken a hard look in the mirror, and even said that she's taken the time to get educated about race and why it's problematic for her to use the n-word, even when singing along with a black artist who's using it.

"If I can say this word slipped out of my mouth, then what slipped into my heart?" she says she asked herself after fully realizing what she'd done. Brown had initially insisted she never uses the word, and always omits it when singing along to songs that do.

"I don't want to be an ignorant white girl who uses the n-word," she said in her tearful video. "and goes onto a platform intoxicated and being that way ... I have learned that there are things I cannot say."

"I don't need anybody to defend me for what I did because what I said," she said, asking specifically that her fans, friends and followers not defend her actions. "What I did was wrong."

"If you want to support me, do not defend me," She said. "Do not send hateful messages to people who are holding me accountable. If you want to support me, just continue to encourage me to do better."

"I know a lot of you are disappointed in me and trust me, I've been very disappointed in myself," she said. She also acknowledged that some may not be ready to forgive her, or may never forgive her, and that's okay, too.

"My granddaddy always used to say, 'Sorry doesn't fix it,'" she said. "But I promise when you learn the things that you didn't know before ... it changes your heart and your convictions like never before and I promise you, I will not be a part of the problem anymore."

"I will be part of the solution," she promised.

Before posting her video, Brown shared a quote from artist Ricardo Levin Morales that addresses the problems with well-intentioned "anti-racist" whites and that it isn't about them individually, but the system -- much like protesters are railing against right now.