NBC pulled Taylor Frankie Paul’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon one day before her season of The Bachelorette was canceled.
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on Thursday, March 19, that Taylor, 31, was set to appear on the Wednesday, March 18, episode to promote her season of The Bachelorette. Sources told the outlet that NBC canceled the guest spot and has not rescheduled, which is unlikely to happen.
Us Weekly reached out to The Tonight Show for comment.
TMZ released footage of Taylor on Thursday that showed her throwing a chair at ex Dakota Mortensen in an incident that led to her 2023 arrest. (Taylor was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief after the incident. She ultimately pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice and later reached a plea deal.)
In the video, Taylor’s daughter, Indy, can be heard crying in the background. (Taylor shares Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 5, with ex-husband Tate Paul. She’s also mom to son Ever, 2, whom she shares with Dakota.)
“It’s sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child,” a rep for Taylor told TMZ after the footage emerged. “Releasing an old and selectively edited video on their son’s birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior.”
The statement continued: “Thankfully, the public has seen this act before and knows who he is and sadly, many will recognize this pattern of manipulation, both in his actions on the show and from their own experiences.”
On Thursday, a source confirmed to Us that Dakota filed a protective order against Taylor in Utah and requested temporary custody of their son. Hours later, Disney announced that Taylor’s season of The Bachelorette was canceled.
“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,” a Disney Entertainment spokesperson told Us in a Thursday, March 19, statement.
News broke earlier this week that Taylor and Dakota were involved in a second domestic incident which led to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives halting production on season 5, which is currently filming. A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department in Utah confirmed to Us at the time that there was an open “domestic assault investigation” concerning Taylor and Dakota. The spokesperson noted that allegations were “made in both directions.”
Taylor, for her part, addressed the headlines in an exclusive interview with Us and claimed that there’s “more to the context to everything.”
“It’s been hard. And it sucks to be in this position,” she said. “And the mother that I am, that is something I will always stand my ground on. I believe that I am a good mother and I have always treated my kids very well. So the headlines that are out right now are very hard to see because that’s not the truth of it. I have always treated my children with respect and I’ve never touched them. So it’s been really hard.”
Dakota broke his silence on the incident one day later, with his rep denying that he was responsible for the news being made public at this time.
“His number one priority here is protecting [their son], Ever,” a rep for Dakota told Entertainment Weekly. “He knew there was a possibility it could come out, but he was not going to be the one to proactively do that because he has always wanted a decent relationship with Taylor. It’s been really hard to achieve that, but he wants to coparent well.”
The statement continued, “He was just hoping that if he says nothing, as he usually does, it would go away. He’s never done any kind of sit-down interview about his side. He kind of just lets it all happen to him, and I think he realizes with the severity of everything now that he just can’t do that.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
