ABC cancels “Bachelorette” over Taylor Frankie Paul controversy

ABC has cancelled the upcoming season of hit reality series “The Bachelorette.”

The 2026 season was set to follow Taylor Frankie Paul, a star on the Hulu series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” The Disney-owned network pulled the season, which was set to debut this week, after a video of a violent altercation between Paul and her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen surfaced.

“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,” Disney shared.

The video was first shared by TMZ. Part of a 2023 aggravated assault case against Paul, it shows the “Mormon Wives” star throwing barstools at Mortensen. One of Paul’s children was reportedly struck during the fight, per a police report, leaving her with a “goose egg on her head.” Paul pled guilty to the assault charge and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

“Mormon Wives” halted filming of their fifth season earlier this week due to a domestic violence investigation involving both Mortensen and Paul. During a press event for her season of “The Bachelorette” on Tuesday, Paul said she was going through a “heavy time.”

“It’s unfortunate. I’m struggling for sure, but also at the same time I feel like if I don’t show up, then I’m just giving these opportunities away and not enjoying what we’ve worked on and something super exciting that’s coming,” she said.

about this topic

    let siteUrl="https://www.salon.com";
    let captchaKey = '6LckLQkrAAAAABD30EsnOQxmtgweb-aPZojeUU3v';
    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
        FB.init({
            appId      : '134091381200152',
            cookie     : true,
            xfbml      : true,
            version    : 'v21.0'
        });
        FB.AppEvents.logPageView();
    };

    (function(d, s, id){
        var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
        if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
        js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
        js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js";
        fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

Source link