Ex “Bachelorette” producer Becky Steenhoek says she was fired from the show because “her morals were getting in the way of her work,” adding that that she believes the ABC show’s bosses gave her the boot because she was not bing “enough of a b—-.”
The former “Bachelor” franchise staffer, who is suing Warner Bros. Entertainment for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination — and who says she was fired for “complaining about the hostile work environment that Defendants created by pervasive and persistent sexual inquiries” — appeared on Friday’s “Megyn Kelly Today” to speak out about her allegations.
Steenhoek claims in her lawsuit that she was harassed constantly while working on ABC’s dating competition series and then fired in retaliation after addressing the hostile work environment. In the legal document, filed Monday, Steenhoek says that when she was let go she was told that “her morals were getting in the way of her work” and “her morals were a threat to the show.”
And on Friday she told Kelly she got let go because she “wasn’t being enough of a b—-.”
“I don’t know,” Steenhoek said when Kelly asked her why the producers would want her to be “b—hy.” “But it was interesting, because when I was originally hired for this position, the executive producers came to me because they thought I would be a good fit. And they told me the reason they thought I would be a good fit was because I was a good person, because I wasn’t — I was trustworthy, because I had good morals. And then it turned around that in the end that’s why they said we were firing me.”
Steenhoek’s lawyer, who appeared on Kelly’s broadcast via video, added that the termination had “nothing to do with the creative process.” “This is about picking on the girl from Iowa. The conservative girl. And it’s basically a way for them to, you know, she’s the butt of the joke. It’s enjoyable to them.”
In the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles on Oct. 30, Steenhoek, a former Production Assistant on “The Bachelor” series, including “The Bachelorette,” “Bachelor in Paradise” and “Jade & Tanner’s Wedding,” alleges that the sexual inquiries were not part of the “creative” process of the show but were “instead intended to embarrass her because of her sexual inexperience and conservative views about sex.”
“Despite Steenhoek’s making clear that she was not interested in discussing her sexual life with her supervisors and co-workers, the Executive and Cast Producers of the show,” the suit read, naming Elan Gale, Peter Scalettar, Bennett Graebner, Jacqueline Naz Perez and Caitlin Stapleton as having asked Steenhoek questions on a daily basis such as:
- How often do you masturbate?
- Do you own sex toys/dildos?
- Have you ever had anal sex?
- Do you enjoy giving hand jobs?
- Is your vagina shaved? Do you have a landing strip?
- Has a man ever got your ‘taco’ [euphemism for vagina] talking?”