Members of the Bachelor Nation are calling out James McCoy Taylor for attending the “Save America” protest that turned into a riot when protesters descended on the Capitol.
Taylor, an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, appeared on JoJo Fletchers’ 2016 season of ‘The Bachelorette’, but has since picked up others from the hit ABC dating program. The crux of their criticism stems from a tweet Taylor shared last week, suggesting that ABC and the producers behind the reality show were good with the fact that he attended the controversial event.
“Many thanks to #TheBachelor family who supported me during this time … from top to bottom,” he wrote. “Conservative producers are the best !! Thank you @ABCNetwork @ABC & @BachelorABC for having my back while I legally supported our president.”
It is unclear whether McCoy was among the group that breached the security of the Capitol building on Jan. 6 while the Senate met to confirm the Electoral College’s votes from the November election. However, he spent the days until the January 6 meeting in Washington, DC, to encourage his followers to come “fight for a man who has been fighting for you for 4 years.”
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Representatives of “The Bachelorette” did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
However, Ben Higgins, who starred in ‘The Bachelor’ in 2016, told Insider that Taylor is simply lying that the program and network are good with his attendance.
“It was a dark day in American history and he was for it and it’s still being promoted by him. I can not say that he and I have anything in common,” he said. “However, he represents ‘The Bachelor’ and I think he went so far as to say that ‘The Bachelor’ supports his efforts to do so – that’s wrong! And he’s lying.”
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Recording artist and ‘Bachelorette’ star, James McCoy Taylor, is being called out by former contestants to attend the January 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol.
(Rick Diamond / ACMA2017 / Getty Images for ACM)
“It did not happen. Nobody supported him in it. He’s lying and lying is not an OK thing. I do not know why he does it,” Higgins added.
The issue notes that, other than Higgins’ rebuke of Taylor’s tweet, series creator Mike Fleiss did not crack words during the discussion of Taylor’s attendance at a riot.
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“Whoever is the former member / idiot j — off who went to Trump’s treacherous rally, got a message for you … You are officially banned from #BachelorNation !!!” he wrote.
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Former Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay, who spoke about the show’s more diverse cast, responded to this tweet writes: “Reason # 4853569536 we need to do better with casting.”