Even before we learned the happy news that Matt James would be the new Bachelor (opens in new tab) and the first black lead in the show's history, we knew who he was: he is a good friend of Bachelor alum Tyler Cameron and was scheduled to compete later this year on Claire Crowley's The Bachelor season (open in new tab). Not only that, but Crowley and James may have indirectly tussled early on before the show - there are several tweets and posts that have not been confirmed, but which link the two to a disagreement over their social media activities. (Here's what we know so far. If the situation changes, we will update the article.

In other words, it all started when Crawley, who has been outspoken on social media about what he needs and wants in his season, sub-tweeted someone in his season. Incidentally, Cameo (opens in new tab) is a video messaging platform that allows celebrities to send messages to their fans.

Fans were quick to point out that James was on Cameo (opens in new tab), where his job was to raise money for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. James has done a lot of charitable work, especially through a community organization called ABC Food Tours.

In his Instagram Stories (opens in new tab) (now expired), James wrote, "Well, for those who may have missed the messaging earlier this week, myself and Alex Bachman . have pledged to fight this fight by donating all cameo proceeds to the Robin Hu (open in new tab) d (open in new tab) Foundation (open in new tab)," the message said, according to E. News (open in new tab). 'I'm trying to think of creative ways to raise money for the children of the future,' he said. He didn't seem to be referring to anything (or anyone) in particular, but the timing seemed more than coincidental.

In response to a reply from a fan implying that her tweet was unfair to James, Crowley clarified that her comment was in fact about more than one person:

And Chris Harrison told Entertainment Tonight

"First of all, everyone needs to relax about the charity thing. Claire is not against charity and Matt is not against charity. That's great and it's good for Matt to do something positive during this quarantine. But she's not saying Matt is special, she's just saying that she's a bachelorette and lives under certain guidelines and rules. She is already like part of the family and we respect that. These people are not living under those guidelines because they are not part of us yet. So they are living their own lives, and they are kind of using being selected for the "Bachelorette" as a bit of a boost. I think it's like, 'We all play by the same rules, so when you come in, there's an innocence and a naivete, and we can actually get through this. She also doesn't get mad at people who do things for charity.

And Tyler Cameron himself said: "The funny thing is, Matt had a cameo, but the guy she picked also had a cameo. That's why it's funny." (15]

However, James has publicly endorsed Crawley's season, writing on Instagram (open in new tab): "I'm staying tuned. She will be a great player."

Another interesting point is that Crowley did not comment on James' season when the announcement was made; according to Us Weekly, Crowley was "uninformed" and knew about James becoming the Bachelor the way everyone else knew: Twitter. He found out about James becoming the Bachelor the way everyone else did: on Twitter.

However, ABC denies these claims ABC denies these claims. Rob Mills, the network's head of alternative programming, said: someone told Us Weekly magazine that she didn't know, that is, that she found out on GMA. Of course, there is no way they would do that to Claire. She found out about it the day before."