ABC is denying allegations that The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are racist. In legal papers obtained by RumorFix, the network wants a lawsuit filed by two black Bachelorette contestants dismissed.

ABC claims the First Amendment “protects Defendants’ creative choices concerning the content — including the casting — of the television series that they produce and broadcast to the public.”

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The the corporate attorneys used five other networks as examples to prove their point.

“Lifetime, a network geared toward female audience members, could be forced to display male-themed shows — to avoid claims of gender discrimination,” the legal papers state.

Then the attorneys ask what about BET, the Black Entertainment Network, or Telemundo, a Spanish-language network, or The Jewish Channel or LOGO, a network targeted at gays? Would they have to alter their programming?

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“Would MTV have to cast African Americans or Latinos on the Jersey Shore?” the papers ask.

Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson allege they were discriminated against and either ignored during casting or dismissed early in the process.

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