The class action lawsuit against The Bachelor and The Bachelorette was dismissed today. In a 23-page ruling (read it here), Judge Aleta Trauger in a Tennessee district court granted the motion to dismiss the racial discrimination suit requested by defendants ABC, Warner Horizon Television, Next Entertainment, NZK Productions and the show’s executive producer Michael Fleiss. Football players Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson filed the suit in April to protest that the shows never have a winner “who is a person of color.” The two black plaintiffs, who say they auditioned unsuccessfully for The Bachelor, also wanted an injunction to force the shows to have persons of color as finalists — they did not get that either. “The plaintiffs’ goals here are laudable. …Nevertheless, the First Amendment prevents the plaintiffs from effectuating these goals by forcing the defendants to employ race-neutral criteria in their casting decisions in order to ‘showcase’ a more progressive message,” the judge wrote. Said a Warner Bros spokesman: “We felt from the onset this case was completely without merit and we are pleased the Court has found in our favor”.

Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.