ABC pulls The Proposal episode 2; contestant accused of facilitating sexual assault
Today, the network announced that they are pulling The Proposal episode 2, originally set to air on Monday, after a contestant on the episode in Michael J. Friday was accused on social media of helping to facilitate a sexual assault. In a post on Facebook this week, Erica Denae Meshke describes the situation in which Friday, after meeting her on Tinder, allegedly led her to an apartment complex in which she was sexually assaulted by another man after he left and she consumed a drink she believes to be spiked.
Read the joint statement from ABC and Warner Horizon below:
“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.”
We would be surprised if this episode ever ends up coming on the air after allegations this severe. This is not a series that needs this episode to air in order for others to make sense. With that, they can just move on to some other installments and hope that some of the contestants in those do not have so many potential skeletons in their closets. While the Lincoln situation on The Bachelorette feels like a situation that clearly could’ve been avoided — his past legal history should have been made clear in a criminal background check, which the producers say was conducted before the show — this was something that may have been hard to figure out before filming. Unless Friday was charged for a crime over the incident, it would be hard for anyone to know.
We will have more news on this situation once there is a little bit more news out there to report. For now, be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook for the latest updates as soon as we have them. (Photo: ABC.)