Taylor Frankie Paul video reignites fevered online discourse around domestic violence

When a 45-second video of reality star Taylor Frankie Paul hurling metal barstools at her ex-boyfriend during a 2023 altercation surfaced just days before her season of “The Bachelorette” was set to premier on ABC, the fallout was swift

When a 45-second video of reality star Taylor Frankie Paul hurling metal barstools at her ex-boyfriend during a 2023 altercation surfaced just days before her season of “The Bachelorette” was set to premier on ABC, the fallout was swift.

ABC said it wouldn’t air the show. Some cast members from both “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” — in which Paul stars — and the “Bachelor” universe distanced themselves. Several content creators who focus on pop culture analysis condemned the display of domestic violence.

But Paul also had a slew of vocal defenders who rushed to social media to label the incident “reactive abuse,” a term used to describe when an abuse victim is pushed to respond in an aggressive manner. It’s a topic that often becomes an online flashpoint among advocates, experts and commentators after high-profile domestic violence cases make headlines.

“Most people online are either completely condemning Taylor or completely justifying it,” Courtney Tracy, a licensed clinical social worker in California, said in a video posted online last week. “The truth is none of us really know what’s going on.”

In the video, seemingly captured by Paul’s ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen and released by TMZ last week, Paul is seen screaming, attacking Mortensen and throwing three barstools during a February 2023 altercation at her house. Shortly after the stool is thrown, her young daughter, who was nearby on the sofa during the fight, can be heard crying.