Commentary: ABC thought Taylor Frankie Paul would amp 'Bachelorette' ratings. It was playing with fire

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“What were they thinking?”This is the question on everyone’s mind of “The Bachelorette’s” producers, ABC, Hulu and the Disney legal team.On Thursday, ABC announced that the heavily promoted new season of “The Bachelorette,” scheduled to premiere Sunday, would not be moving forward “at this time.” Why not? Well, the Bachelorette in question, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul, was the subject of a second domestic assault investigation as a damning video from her first, in which she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, made the rounds courtesy of TMZ.

Filming for Season 5 of “Mormon Wives,” which Paul executive produces, was also abruptly halted.The disturbing video is hard to watch.Not so much because Paul puts on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen into a headlock and then pelts him with metal bar stools — sadly, this is a scene that would not be out of place on many reality shows — but because a small child is in the room.

After one of the stools bounces toward the camera, Paul’s then-5-year-old daughter Indy begins crying and Mortensen later says “help your child.” Even as the child cries “Mommy,” Paul continues on her rampage.When Mortensen belatedly attempts to help Indy, Paul screams at him to “get away from my child.” Television The influencer and reality star was on the precipice of making her debut on the dating series before the latest crossover attempt by a member of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ was derailed.

What happens now?And while “Bachelorette” producers and Disney lawyers may not have seen the video, which was introduced in the 2023 court case, the police report makes it clear that Indy was injured during the incident, noting a “goose egg” on the child’s head.Paul was charged with aggravated assault, child abuse and domestic violence in the presence of a chil...