For a company like Disney, with its loyal family audience, a controversy surrounding its new Bachelorette, Taylor Frankie Paul, has devolved into an especially ugly problem involving two signature reality franchises.
ABC pulled the latest season of its dating show just three days before "The Bachelorette" was set to premiere, and hours after TMZ published a video showing Paul attacking her on-again, off-again romantic partner Dakota Mortensen in front of her daughter in 2023.
“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,” ABC said in a statement.
A source with knowledge of the situation told me that executives at Disney did not see the alarming video until it dropped on TMZ.
But behind the scenes, the situation was already unraveling across multiple shows, with legal concerns and internal questions mounting...
