Ex-NFL Player and Former Bachelor Host Claims ABC Knew About Taylor Frankie Paul’s Violent History Before TMZ Video: ‘Turned a Blind Eye!’

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Former NFL player Emmanuel Acho  explained on Thursday why he was convinced producers of The Bachelorette were well aware of Taylor Frankie Paul’s history even before TMZ published a bombshell video of the reality star repeatedly striking her ex-boyfriend.

Earlier that day, TMZ posted a video of Paul — the host of the upcoming season of The Bachelorette — involved in a physical altercation with her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.

The 2023 video showed Paul repeatedly punching and kicking Mortensen. At the end of the clip, she threw multiple chairs at him. Paul’s daughter was present during the violent altercation, and she was reportedly hit by one of the chairs, as well.

In light of the video, ABC announced that her season of The Bachelorette would be put on hold. Additionally, filming for the upcoming season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — in which Paul also stars — has been paused.

Acho hosted the 25th season of The Bachelor several years ago. Based on that experience, he argued that ABC must have been aware of Paul’s past. On his show, Speakeasy, he said:

Ultimately, they asked me to end up hosting it; but before they asked me to end up hosting it, severe background check after background check after background check… Not only do they do that, they give me a whole booklet in order to host just this one episode, and debrief me on all of that. Not only do they do that, they give me all of the DVDs of the packages from every character that I’m gonna have to talk to during the course of their season to make sure that I am well prepped as they have completely studied me and my history.

I say that to say, the franchise knew everything you needed to know about this woman, and they turned a blind eye. And that is what, to me, is disgusting… And as soon as they found out this video existed, they were like, “Uh-oh, we just got caught,” and I’m tired of seeing because we saw it in the NFL, too.

Acho then referenced the situation involving former NFL pro Ray Rice. The star running back’s career was derailed after a video emerged of the brutal assault of his wife in an elevator at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Prior to that video’s release, the NFL’s punishment for the assault was relatively light.

“When the video came out and we saw him knock her out in the elevator and drag her by her hair, he never played in the NFL again,” Acho continued. “Stop waiting for videos to be released to punish people when you already know the integral thing to do.”

Days before the video surfaced, TMZ reported that Mortensen warned ABC about Paul’s behavior prior to the filming of The Bachelorette.

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