It’s Official: There’s Now a Bill to Ban ‘Bachelor’ Arie From Minnesota

Democracy at work.

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The entire country—or, OK, at least Bachelor Nation—is pretty furious at Arie Luyendyk, Jr., the most recent star of The Bachelor. In case you missed all the drama, Arie first proposed to Becca, then dumped her (while cameras were rolling!) and went back to the woman he initially rejected, Lauren. But it turns out nowhere is more anti-Arie than Minnesota.

State Rep. Drew Christensen, a Republican who appropriately represents Savage, decided to author a bill to ban Arie from ever entering his state. On March 5, Christensen posted on Twitter, saying if his tweet got 1,000 retweets, he’d author a bill banning the Bachelor from Minnesota. And he easily passed that mark; as of March 8, it has 11,500 retweets.

Christensen then offered a new challenge: to get enough retweets to invite Becca to the State of the State address. But she might be too busy filming The Bachelorette to stop by.

On Wednesday, Christensen stayed true to his word, and officially authored a bill banning Arie. The bill aims to protect Minnesotans’ “freedom from Arie Luyendyk, Jr.” “The state of Minnesota hereby adopts a policy of zero tolerance of Arie Luyendyk, Jr. from season 22 of The Bachelor. It is state policy that every person in the state has a right to live free from the presence of Arie Luyendyk, Jr. in the state,” the bill reads.

And yes, he also invited Becca to the State of the State.

It’s incredibly unlikely this bill will go anywhere, and Arie will be able to roam throughout Minnesota as he pleases. But Christensen said the bill is a way to show people they can easily take part in the political process if they want to, even if it’s just about The Bachelor. "I think this whole thing is a great lesson in civic engagement," Christensen told Cosmopolitan.com. "It’s as easy as a tweet to engage with elected officials on the issues — it’s important to me that I’m accessible to folks I represent."

Megan Friedman
Megan Friedman
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Megan Friedman is the former managing editor of the Newsroom at Hearst. She's worked at NBC and Time, and is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.