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Bethenny Frankel is of the opinion that participants from the “Bachelorette” contemplating legal action against ABC over the cancellation of Taylor Frankie Paul’s season hold a legitimate grievance, suggesting the network is in a precarious position.
The ex-star of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” expressed her views on the unfolding controversy and potential legal battle through an Instagram post on Saturday.
“Rumor has it that five individuals from ‘The Bachelorette’ are considering a lawsuit, and it struck me as glaringly obvious,” Frankel, 55, stated, mentioning that her own “dating membership community” has dismissed individuals for far less than instances of “domestic violence.”
“That’s outrageous!” she exclaimed. She found it unbelievable that a program centered around discovering a life partner and the ultimate romantic connection on such a significant platform would choose someone with a troubling history.
While acknowledging that “everyone can reconcile and evolve,” Frankel contended that the participants “do indeed have a valid point” since they joined the show with the intention of finding love, stating that ABC “cannot have it both ways.”
“The show can’t be just for entertainment purposes like it’s ‘The Hills’ and the sign is coming down, and have everyone think that it is really about finding true love,” the Skinnygirl founder charged.
“They are kind of f–ked, because there’s no way that the most high-profile matchmakers on the globe would cast someone like that and set those people up to meet that person,” she concluded. “That’s f–ked.”
Five of the 22 “Bachelorette” contestants threatened to sue ABC after the network canceled Paul’s season of the reality dating show just three days before it was set to premiere.
ABC announced the decision shortly after TMZ released a shocking video from 2023 that showed the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star throwing chairs at her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen during a domestic violence incident.
Paul, 31, was arrested for the incident, but the charges were ultimately dropped.
“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,” the network told Page Six in a statement Thursday.
Paul’s suitors reportedly feel that Warner Bros. Discovery, which produced the canceled “Bachelorette” season, fostered an unsafe work environment by letting Paul interact with them despite her controversial history.
However, lawyer Ashlee Difuntorum suggested that it would be an “uphill battle” for the five contestants to sue Warner Bros. Discovery or ABC.
“I haven’t seen the contracts here, but typically, the contract is with the production company and includes some sort of language stating that the production company and ABC can decide to do what they want with the footage — including not releasing it at all,” Difuntorum told Page Six.
“But without it airing, they have obviously missed out on other financial benefits that they might have otherwise received,” Difuntorum also acknowledged.
Another attorney, Daniel J. Ain, agreed that the contestants won’t be able to “sue” the two parties “successfully.”
“Every single contestant contract likely states that ABC has no obligation to use the contestant’s appearance in the show or to even broadcast the show,” Ain told Page Six. “Contestants will also have explicitly released any claims they might have.”
Frankel previously trashed ABC for casting Paul as this season’s “Bachelorette” in the first place.
“They knew about her domestic violence past, and apparently they cast her as the first non-Bachelor nation person, and they wanted the controversy and the redemption, so now they’re re-trading on that because the video was made public,” she said in another Instagram video last week.
“I mean, a picture’s worth a thousand words, and audio’s worth a thousand words, but if someone was already involved in domestic violence, why would they cast her?” Frankel added.