ABC has scrubbed the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette,” starring Taylor Frankie Paul, three days before its planned premiere, citing a newly released video from 2023 in which she appears to punch, kick and throw chairs at her former partner as her young daughter watched and cried.
Thursday’s cancellation of the already filmed 22nd season of the reality show is unprecedented. While ABC parent company Disney cited the older video, the move comes amid a current domestic violence investigation involving Paul and Dakota Mortensen, father to a son who is the youngest of her three children.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a statement from Disney Entertainment Television said.
A Paul representative responded that she has been abused for years while remaining silent about it.
Before her “Bachelorette” casting, Paul had already become a reality star through “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” whose production is paused.
In 2023 video published by TMZ Thursday, Mortensen is apparently trying to stave off Paul with one hand while he shoots phone video. She is shown punching him, kicking him then throwing three chairs at him while repeatedly screaming “You did this!”
“The only thing you know how to do is hurt me,” Mortensen says, while repeatedly pleading with Paul and reminding her that her daughter was watching. A child can be heard sobbing, screaming and shouting “mommy!” Paul’s daughter would have been about 5 at the time.
The video was consistent with Paul’s arrest in 2023, when she was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge; the other counts were dismissed.
A spokesman for Paul said in a statement Thursday that she is “very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security. After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm.”
The statement said “Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation, and public shaming” and that she is now “exploring all of her options, seeking support, and preparing to own and share her story.”
Mortensen denied wrongdoing.
“As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation. I am, unfortunately, used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny. I am focusing on our son and his safety, and hope that Taylor will do the same,” his statement said.
A police spokesperson in Draper City, Utah, told People magazine earlier this week that there was an open domestic violence investigation of Paul and Mortensen, and that both have made allegations.
Mortensen’s representatives didn’t immediately answer requests for comment.
ABC will air an “American Idol” rerun Sunday instead.
Paul was promoting “The Bachelorette” as recently as Wednesday on “Good Morning America” and on the red carpet before Sunday’s Oscars.
She was an unusual choice to helm “The Bachelorette,” the reality TV institution that started in 2003. Most leads are cast from previous runners-up from “The Bachelor.”
Her selection instead offered synergy with “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” on Hulu, also owned by Disney. In a statement confirming her “Bachelorette” casting in October, ABC credited Paul with “igniting ‘MomTok’ and going viral for pulling back the curtain on Salt Lake’s soft-swinging scene.”
Paul became known as an influencer in the #MomTok community, a group of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sharing their lives on TikTok. She made news when she announced, in 2022, that she had “stepped out” of an agreement with her husband on relationships with other couples and they were getting divorced.
Season 4 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was released last week. Filming of Season 5 has been put on pause.
“It was a decision that all of us girls came up with,” Paul’s co-star Mikayla Matthews said Wednesday on Instagram. “We didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that was happening.”
Paul posted on Instagram in December that filming had wrapped on “The Bachelorette.”
Her casting was essentially an experiment gone wrong, said Kate Casey, a former crisis communications specialist who has covered unscripted television in more than 1,500 episodes of her podcast “Reality Life with Kate Casey.”
“I think they were trying to shake things up, and it makes sense because the ecosystem is saturated with dating shows like ‘F-Boy Island’ and ‘Love Island’ that push the boundaries and ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette’ historically have been saccharine,” said Casey.
Casey says network executives probably believed casting Paul would also tap into her 6.1 million-strong TikTok following.
“The thinking was probably, ‘We’re going to get a new audience’ and the new audience is really the most coveted in all of entertainment,” she said.
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Rancilio reported from Detroit.
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