The Real Reason Cosmo Pulled Their Bachelor Cover

The latest season of The Bachelor has been wild for a lot of reasons. First there was Hannah Brown coming on to the show to seemingly try to win back Peter Weber. Now there's a scandal surrounding Victoria Fuller, who many people speculated might have won Bachelor Peter Weber's heart before the season even premiered.

Victoria won a contest during a group date in Costa Rica where the women posed in bikinis for a chance to land on the cover of Cosmopolitan. She was named the winner, and completed the photo shoot, but the magazine decided to pull the cover because of some previous modeling work Victoria had done.

Cosmopolitan's editor-in-chief, Jessica Pels, explained why they decided to pull the cover in an open letter. "When my team and I flew down to Costa Rica for our challenge, we weren't told who our models were going to be," wrote Pels. "We didn't even meet them until we were all on camera on-set, ready to start our shoot. So when it came time for me to choose the winner of the challenge — whose prize was a digital cover of Cosmo — all I knew about the contestants were their first names and the energy they conveyed through the camera lens."

After Victoria had been named the winner, Pels found out that she had previously been in an ad campaign where she wore apparel with the words "White Lives Matter" on it. 

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, White Lives Matter is "a racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter" and "a neo-Nazi group that is growing into a movement as more and more white supremacist groups take up its slogans and tactics."

While Pels noted that the campaign Victoria participated in was not part of a racist movement but was for "a Marlin Lives Matter organization focused on preventing white and blue marlin from being overfished, which used 'white lives matter' and 'blue lives matter' messaging on its promotional shirts and hats," she said that it didn't matter.

"In my view, the nature of the organization is neither here nor there — both phrases and the belief systems they represent are rooted in racism and therefore problematic," wrote Pels. "Unequivocally, the White Lives Matter movement does not reflect the values of the Cosmo brand. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and any cause that fights to end injustices for people of color."

After "many long discussions," Cosmopolitan decided not to issue the cover. "Ultimately what felt right was choosing not to publish the digital cover on our website or social feeds, and simply being honest with you, the audience we respect, about what happened and where we stand," wrote Pels.