‘Bachelor’ Creator ‘Horrified’ That ‘Abusive A–holes’ Made It Onto ‘The Proposal,’ ‘Bachelorette’

“We are working very hard to find ways to do better,” tweets Mike Fleiss

THE PROPOSAL
ABC/Byron Cohen

Mike Fleiss, the creator of “The Bachelor,” is speaking out about the recent “abusive a–holes” that have been cast on “The Proposal” and “The Bachelorette.”

“For the record, I am horrified that any of these abusive a–holes are on our shows,” Fleiss tweeted Sunday of the two shows he executive produces. “We are working very hard to find ways to do better.”

Earlier in the weekend, Fleiss defended the fact that producers didn’t know a contestant on “The Proposal” was accused of facilitating sexual assault.

“How are we supposed to find out about something that’s never been reported??? #TheProposal,” he said.

Fleiss is referring to an accusation made late last week against one of the contestants on “The Proposal.” Milwaukee resident Erica Denae Meshke accused the contestant in question of being “directly responsible for my date rape” in a Facebook post on Friday.

“An allegation has been made against a contestant on next week’s episode of ‘The Proposal.’ While the accusation was not related to the contestant’s appearance on the program, we take it very seriously. ABC and the producers of ‘The Proposal’ are pulling the episode while this matter is under review,” ABC and Warner Horizon said in a joint statement Friday.

Meshke’s accusation came after news that current “Bachelorette” contestant Lincoln Adim was convicted of indecent assault and battery in May for an incident that occurred in 2016.

ABC declined to comment on Adim’s conviction, but producers Warner Bros. TV said in a statement that “No one on ‘The Bachelorette’ production had any knowledge about the incident or charges when Lincoln Adim was cast, and he himself denied ever having engaged in or having been charged with any sexual misconduct.”

“We employ a well-respected and highly experienced third party who has done thousands of background checks consistent with industry standards to do a nationwide background check in this case,” the statement continued. “The report we received did not reference any incident or charge relating to the recent conviction – or any other charges relating to sexual misconduct. We are currently investigating why the report did not contain this information, which we will share when we have it.”

The “Proposal” contestant was eliminated in the first round, but ABC will not air that episode. Adim is still a contestant on Becca Kufrin’s season of “The Bachelorette,” which is airing now on Mondays.

Fleiss also tweeted that he “will no longer work for the dishonest Fox Network” last Friday, after figures like Judd Apatow, Seth MacFarlane and Steve Levitan said they wouldn’t work for the network because of its ties to Fox News.

See Fleiss’ tweets below.

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