James McCoy Taylor from The Bachelorette posted last week about joining the riots at the US Capitol that resulted in five deaths. In one of his posts, he thanked ABC for sticking by him while he contributed to the violence at the Capitol. Here's what ABC and The Bachelor producers had to say about his claim.
Taylor appeared on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette. He made it to the top six before he was eliminated. The singer-songwriter now works in PR in Texas. The 34-year-old's social media is full of conservative-leaning posts. Taylor supports Blue Lives Matter and even said he might run for president himself.
On January 5, Taylor tweeted he would be attending the rally for President Trump the next day. "DC tomorrow," he wrote, "#MarchForTrump Take a bus. Drive. MSG me if you need a plane ticket...just don't make an excuse not to fight for a man who's been fighting for you for four years." The next day, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building while Congress attempted to confirm the electoral college vote in favor of president-elect Joe Biden. The riots resulted in five deaths and many, many injuries. Bombs were also sent to the RNC and DNC headquarters, but were thankfully dismantled. Taylor continued to post in support of the rioters on social media. "Big thanks to #TheBachelor family for supporting me during this time...from top to bottom," he wrote on Twitter, "Conservative producers are the best! Thank you @ABCNetwork @ABC @BachelorABC for having my back as I legally supported our President."
ABC executive and creator of The Bachelor Mike Fleiss has now publicly denied Taylor's claims of support. A source close to ABC told E! News that Taylor's claims are "unequivocally false." Mike Fleiss tweeted on Monday, "Whoever that former cast member/idiot jerkoff was who went to Trump's treasonous rally was, got a message for ya. You are officially exiled from #BachelorNation!!!" His message was supported by other Bachelor stars including Rachel Lindsay, Ashley Spivey, Olivia Caridi and Michael Garofola. Rachel used her retweet to call out The Bachelor's casting department, writing, "Reason #4853569536 we have to do better with casting."
Taylor's actions are just the latest in a long string of embarrassing casting mishaps on The Bachelor and Bachelorette. Becca Kufrin broke up with Garrett Yrigoyen last summer for publicly supporting Blue Lives Matter. Rachel Lindsay, the first Black Bachelorette, was forced to eliminate an openly racist contestant. The contestants on Matt James' season, which is currently airing, have been catching flak from fans as well. Rachael Kirkconnell, a front-runner on the season, has been accused of bullying girls who like Black men and sharing QAnon posts on Instagram. Victoria Larson also appeared to delete an Instagram post with a Trump flag in the background.
The Bachelor has always had scandals arise when it comes to their casting, but this is pretty bad. We'll have to see what producers do about it and if ABC will issue an official statement against Taylor's actions.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.
Source: E! News, James McCoy Taylor/Twitter