Why was the Canadian flag blurred out during ‘The Bachelor’ season 28 premiere?

Joey Graziadei has officially made his debut as the lead of season 28 of The Bachelor, and with a suggestive banana, a shotgun race, a “huge bra” and more, there were some extremely interesting limo entrances that came from the cast, consisting of the most hopefuls in the history of The Bachelor franchise.

While it was not the most wild limo entrance of all, Maria Georgas — a 29-year-old executive assistant from Kleinburg, Ontario — took pride in her heritage by waving around a Canadian flag while meeting Joey for the first time. While it was definitely memorable for the pair, fans of The Bachelor franchise were unable to see the full picture, with ABC blurring out the Canadian flag on our television screens, ultimately leaving viewers with just one question: Why?

Given that Sam Picco had Canada on full display during her Bachelor In Paradise intro just a few weeks prior, fans of The Bachelor franchise took to X to express their confusion…

Fortunately, Kristen Baldwin at Entertainment Weekly gave her theory as to why exactly the Canadian flag was blurred out during the premiere of season 28 of The Bachelor, giving fans of The Bachelor franchise the answer (or lack thereof) that they have been seeking.

“I’m still trying to figure out why ABC blurred the little Canadian flag that Maria gave Joey. I’m guessing it’s some kind of trademark issue, but I’m not sure. Because I am a lunatic, I emailed the Department of Canadian Heritage to ask if they would have objected to the flag being shown in this context on The Bachelor, and I received this response: ‘Although the National Flag of Canada is protected by the Trademarks Act against unauthorized use for commercial purposes, the use of the National Flag of Canada in a TV show as you have described would have raised no concerns at the Department of Canadian Heritage.'”

There you have it — it looks like this Canadian censorship is truly a mystery!

Nonetheless, after meeting each and every suitress during the premiere of season 28 of The Bachelor, who will steal the heart of the handsome Joey Graziadei in the end? To find out for yourself, catch new episodes of beloved competition series on Mondays on ABC, or stream them the following day via Hulu.