On Monday (January 11), James Taylor—who appeared on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette back in 2016—took to Twitter to reveal that he had taken part in the riots at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. last week. Not only did Taylor reveal he had participated, but he also thanked producers on The Bachelor for "supporting" his actions.
"Big thanks to #TheBachelor family for supporting me during this time... from top to bottom," Taylor wrote. “Conservative producers are the best!!” Taylor shared a number of other tweets, as well, and tagged the official accounts of ABC and The Bachelor to thank them for "having my back while I legally supported our President.”
Not long after Taylor posted these tweets, series creator Mike Fleiss replied to "exile" the former suitor from Bachelor Nation. "Whoever that former cast member/idiot jerkoff is that went to Trump’s treasonous rally, got a message for ya … You are officially exiled from #BachelorNation!!!” Fleiss wrote. “Shame on you.”
Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, who has been advocating for more diversity both in front of and behind the camera on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, joined the conversation, as well. She shared Fleiss' message and added one of her own: “Reason #4853569536 we have to do better with casting.”
An anonymous source with information about ABC's inner workings told E! News that Taylor's claims are "unequivocally false."
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