Katie Thurston Apologizes For Not Being Able to ‘Name 4 Countries in Africa’: ‘I’m Mortified’
Bachelorette Katie Thurston is receiving backlash for a June 30 interview she did with Bachelor Nation‘s Nick Viall. While playing a game on “The Viall Files” podcast, the season 17 leading lady was unable to “name four countries in Africa.” Keep reading for a breakdown of the drama!
What did Katie Thurston say on Nick Viall’s podcast?
“Can Katie name four countries in Africa?” Nick, 40, prompted his guest. Instead of answering, Katie, 30, laughed, took a sip of her drink and played with her hair. “I think you can do it; I think you can do it. My first thought was, ‘I can’t,’ but I know I can. It’s four … give it a shot,” Nick followed up.
“I thought it was like a yes or no … because I just wanna say no,” Katie replied. “No, you have to try. You can do this. I know you can,” Nick countered. From there, the Washington native began doing her best to answer.
After correctly responding with South Africa, Katie admitted she “hated” the game. “I can’t, I don’t want to do this. … Here’s the thing, I’m very sheltered in my Washington life for the last 30 years. I need to get out more. I’m sorry. I’ll try to explore Africa and find all of these countries.”
What did Magi Tareke say about Katie Thurston?
After Katie’s interview with Nick began gaining more traction, her former castmate from Matt James‘ season of The Bachelor Mearg “Magi” Tareke spoke up. “Hi, everyone. I got so many DMs asking me about Katie’s interview … uh, a question if she knows any African countries and she didn’t mention mine,” Magi, who is from Ethiopia, began.
“Well, yes, we know each other … hi, Katie! We ate together. We drank together. We farmed together. We almost liked the same guy. I’m from Tigray from Ethiopia,” she added. “Now you know. By the way, Matt is half Nigerian. So, Nigeria, Ethiopia … now you know two countries. If you need to know more, let me know, I’ll teach you.”
What did Katie Thurston say in her apology?
After Magi posted her video, Katie took to Instagram to share a lengthy statement via Stories.
“I’m going to address this as much, as I’m embarrassed to do so. Magi — hi, how you are doing? — made a statement about how I didn’t know five countries in Africa based on the podcast I did with Nick Viall. It really — I don’t know what to say — wasn’t anything more or less than just fear of looking stupid and not wanting to guess the wrong thing,” she began.
“I tried to just not answering the question. Some people are offended, appalled [and] even going so far as questioning if I’m an ally, which is really upsetting, to be honest. But anyway, short answer is, I’m sorry, I f–ked up, I’m stupid. I don’t know what you want me to tell you. Do I know countries in Africa? Sure. Do I know a lot of them? Probably not. Am I trying to learn literally all of them because I was mortified? Yes,” Katie continued.
“I think about that interview often. So, yeah, I mean, all I can do is apologize that I didn’t name countries and truly admit I am wanting to learn all of them. It was truly just a moment of blanking out. … I guess I have to acknowledge it at this point for Magi … who is my housemate during Matt’s season.”
Katie then followed up with a separate Instagram Story on Friday, July 23, making it clear that she and Magi are OK. “@magitareke and I have spoken privately and have nothing but love and respect for each other. Neither of us want negativity for each other,” the ABC personality assured. “Please use your energy for something positive.”
