An upcoming season of “The Bachelorette” was pulled Thursday, a spokesperson for Disney said, after a video of its star attacking the father of one of her children was leaked.

Taylor Frankie Paul, a reality star who was to lead a season of the show slated to premiere Sunday, has been under scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that she was facing a domestic violence investigation, years after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in a separate encounter.

Disney’s ABC, which broadcasts “The Bachelorette,” had appeared to be committed to continuing its plans to air the show. But Thursday, TMZ published leaked footage of a physical altercation from 2023 in which Paul is shown putting her partner in a headlock and throwing metal chairs at him.

“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,” the Disney spokesperson said in a statement, “and our focus is on supporting the family.”

Police in Draper, Utah, confirmed this week that there is an ongoing domestic violence investigation related to Paul and the man seen in the video, Dakota Mortensen, who is now her ex-boyfriend.

ABC was aware of the domestic violence charge from 2023 when it cast Paul. She rose to television fame on the reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and its first episode included police body camera footage of that arrest. Producers of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have faced past criticism for failing to properly vet contestants, but this is the most significant fallout in the franchise’s history.

The calculus for Disney executives rapidly shifted after the video was published on TMZ’s website Thursday afternoon, two people familiar with the decision process said. The executives quickly concluded that going forward with the season would be untenable.

Pulling the season will be a significant financial hit for Disney. The company pays Warner Bros., which produces the show, a hefty license fee for the episodes, which can total in the tens of millions of dollars.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Julia Jacobs, John Koblin and Shivani Gonzalez
c. 2026 The New York Times Company