Chris Harrison wil be taking a break from The Bachelor.

Chris Harrison said he is temporarily “stepping aside” from his role as host of The Bachelor franchise after he received backlash over the controversy around a current contestant’s past social media posts.

The controversy started when Variety reported that contestant Rachael Kirkconnell was seen in pictures that allegedly show her at an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity party. She has also been accused of liking photos that contain Confederate flags on social media.

Harrison said Saturday in his two Instagram posts shared that he will be “stepping aside for a period of time” and will not appear on the After the Final Rose special.

He claimed to be “remorseful” and “ashamed” about comments he made in a recent interview when asked about Kirkconnell, who currently is a frontrunner on the 25th season of The Bachelor, which stars the franchise’s first Black bachelor.

Some fans felt that Harrison appeared to defend Kirkconnell. Harrison said in a statement that “these girls got dressed up and went to a party and had a great time and they were 18 years old.”

He continued, “we all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion. I’ve seen some stuff online, again this ‘judge jury executioner’ thing where people are just tearing this girl’s life apart and diving into her parents and her parents’ voting record. It’s unbelievably alarming to watch this,” he said.

In his apology, he claimed he was “not defending Rachael” but added, “I just know that, I don’t know, 50 million people did that in 2018. That was a type of party that a lot of people went to. And again, I’m not defending it. I didn’t go to it.”

After the backlash from Harrison’s Wednesday apology, he took to Instagram again to make another attempt at expressing his remorse.

“To my Bachelor Nation family — I will always own a mistake when I make one, so I am here to extend a sincere apology,” he said.

“This historic season of The Bachelor should not be marred or overshadowed by my mistakes or diminished by my actions,” the host and producer of the ABC reality show said in an Instagram post. “To that end, I have consulted with Warner Bros. and ABC and will be stepping aside for a period of time and will not join for the After the Final Rose special.”

“To the Black community, to the BIPOC community: I am so sorry. My words were harmful. I am listening, and I truly apologize for my ignorance and any pain it caused you,” Harrison wrote.

Kirkconnell has also apologized, saying that “her ignorance was racist” and that she “didn’t recognize how offensive and racist my actions were, but that doesn’t excuse them.” She apologized to the communities and individuals her actions harmed and offended, and wrote that she is “ashamed about my lack of education.”

This is the 25th season of the still enormously popular reality dating franchise and Matt James is the first Black man to be cast as the Bachelor in all that time.