ABC has officially walked away from the new season of The Bachelorette starring Taylor Frankie Paul, according to a report from Deadline.
On Thursday, March 19, Disney announced in a statement that they were removing The Bachelorette from the schedule after a video of Frankie Paul throwing chairs at her ex, Dakota Mortensen, was published on TMZ.
Here is Disney's statement about the series getting pulled from the schedule:
“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."
Frankie Paul's season of the series was set to premiere on Sunday, March 22, on ABC. That's no longer happening, and it leaves a void in ABC's upcoming spring TV schedule.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Frankie Paul and Mortensen were under investigation for domestic violence that halted production on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 5. Frankie Paul and Mortenson star in the reality TV series.
The video published by TMZ is from a 2023 incident between Frankie Paul and Mortensen in front of their young daughter. In the video, Frankie Paul can be seen hitting Mortensen, who is taking a video of the fight, and also throwing chairs across the room at Mortensen. Frankie Paul was charged and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
The video is not from the separate incident that was reported earlier this week between Mortensen and Frankie Paul.
We don't know what's next for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette franchise after Disney decided to walk away from this season without airing a single episode. It's unclear at the time of publishing how much the season cost and how much money Disney will lose because of this decision.
This is a rather unprecedented situation. The strangest part of it all, and the part that I simply can't figure out, is that Frankie Paul had already pled guilty to aggravated assault in this case. And, ABC still picked her, with the knowledge of the details in this case available to them, as the Bachelorette? That seems like a tremendously reckless decision. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Disney and ABC knew of the 2023 case, which was what was shown in the video, so I can't understand how the studio moved forward with casting Frankie Paul, filming the entire season, and waiting to cancel the season after another domestic violence incident was alleged.
It's impossible to know what happens next with the situation, but I have to imagine it's going to get worse before it gets better for all parties involved.
We'll continue to share updates as we learn more information about Frankie Paul, The Bachelorette, and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. ABC will likely have to replace a lot of hours of programming now that the show has officially been pulled.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided soon.