{"id":535342,"date":"2026-03-20T19:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535342\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:49:11","slug":"taylor-frankie-pauls-bachelorette-controversy-doug-mason-reacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/535342\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ Controversy: Doug Mason Reacts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMultiple contestants from Taylor Frankie Paul<\/a>\u2018s season of \u201cThe Bachelorette<\/a>\u201d have spoken out following the news that ABC has halted its plans to air the dating series<\/a>. The news came after TMZ published footage showing Paul throwing metal stools at her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen<\/a> while one of her children is nearby.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile most contestants\u2019 public statements have been brief and unspecific thus far, 28-year-old Doug Mason made it clear he sympathizes with Paul.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYo, good morning everybody. In light of everything that\u2019s happened, I\u2019m just sending out prayers to Taylor, because that was her moment and her moment was blocked,\u201d he said in a video posted to his Instagram story. \u201cSo all we can do right now right now is just be hopeful. I\u2019m headed off to run to watch the sunrise. I hope you guys have a great day, and let\u2019s stay positive and show nothing but support for people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther contestants who have addressed the situation include Brandon Perce, Malik Evans, Johnnie LaRossa and Matthew Carroll.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerce simply wrote \u201c\u2026\u201d over a white screen on his Instagram story shortly after the news broke. Evans posted a story saying, \u201cI\u2019m doing okay. Hope to share more soon. Thank you to everyone who has reached out.\u201d Other statements were similar, with LaRossa writing, \u201cAppreciate everyone reaching out. Grateful for the experience,\u201d and Carroll posting a news story and writing, \u201cOn pause for now. Thank you for everyone\u2019s support and thoughtful messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul rose to prominence as the founding member of the Mormon TikTok group #MomTok, which got its own Hulu reality show \u201cThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d in 2024. Though the footage didn\u2019t leak until Thursday, just days before the previously scheduled March 22 premiere of \u201cThe Bachelorette,\u201d the domestic incident was discussed in Season 1 of \u201cMormon Wives,\u201d taking place shortly after the pilot was filmed and causing a delay in production of the rest of the season. Paul was arrested on the night of the incident and later pleaded guity to aggravated assault, while charges of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief were dismissed.<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul responded to the the leak and the pulling of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d via a spokesperson who said that \u201cafter years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm\u201d and called Mortensen \u201caggressive\u201d and \u201cjealous.\u201d Read the full statement here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe TMZ leak came three days after production on \u201cThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d Season 5 paused due to a new domestic violence investigation<\/a> based on allegations from both Paul and Mortensen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple contestants from Taylor Frankie Paul\u2018s season of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d have spoken out following the news that ABC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,90715,64613,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-535342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-taylor-frankie-paul","10":"tag-the-bachelorette","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}