Peter From The Bachelorette Lashed Out After Fans Sent Him Death Threats For Not Telling Rachel He Loves Her

When it comes to love, some people prefer to take their time — even if they already made it to the hometown visit on The Bachelorette. If you watched last night's Bachelorette, you know that Peter is one of those people. The Madison, Wisconsin native took Rachel to meet his family on Monday's episode, and though their date was about as cute as one could be, there was one thing that didn't come up: the L-word. Some Bachelorette fans were not happy about that, and, in an insane twist, sent Peter death threats because of his refusal to tell Rachel he loved her.

The threats appeared on Peter's Instagram Monday night after the episode, and while no one would accuse the internet of being a nice place, it's downright ludicrous that fans would resort to threatening Peter simply because he's not sure he's ready for marriage. I mean, come on — he's only known Rachel for weeks, and it's not easy to jump into love when you haven't even ventured into the real world with this person.

Fortunately, Peter has a response for all the haters. In the comments section of an Instagram photo that he posted on Monday with a friend, Peter wrote:

"All I can say is that I am sorry to those who wanted me to tell Rachel that I was in love with her tonight after what was essentially two dates. As I stated many times on the show before, I do not take those three words lightly, as once they are said they can never be taken back, and to the person that you choose to say them to, they can hold enormous weight. So rather than race to say something that is of such GREAT importance to me, and I wish was of more importance to others, I chose to take my time in getting to know this woman as much as I possibly could before choosing to express those three words to her," said Peter.

He added:

"I did not realize that being honest and forthright with my feelings and emotions and allowing her to make an informed decision based off of me being as open as possible, as hard as it was for me to go through, would warrant such hate and anger and even now death threats via social media and email. I have always been one to encourage the spread of love, but giving your heart to someone for the rest of your life is not something that I take at all lightly or for granted and I wish that people could see that, rather than take me down so violently and without regard to the fact that I am still human. I hope that people will take a moment to look within themselves and at their own lives to find compassion and understanding rather than forming judgment and spreading hate. And that goes for the awful things that are being said to other cast members of mine as well. I am so happy to have been able to share this experience with you all, but know that your words do TRULY hurt and affect me AND them. Thank you for those who have had my back throughout and for all the understanding and kind words that have also been said. Much love to you all."

Let's all remember to be kind, online and in real life, and maybe try to care a little less about who is throwing the L-word around on The Bachelorette. I mean, really — let Peter live.