A recent dive into public records has revealed that several alums of Bachelor Nation received PPP loans, including scandal-plagued former Bachelor Colton Underwood. Now Underwood has pushed back at critics who accused him of accepting the loans meant to help small businesses survive and retain employees during the pandemic. Several other familiar faces from the franchise, including current co-host of The Bachelorette Tayshia Adams, have also defended their use of the government-backed loans.
Bachelor Nation Alums Among PPP Loan Recipients
Records from ProPublica and FederalPay.org show that several Bachelor alums, including Colton Underwood, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham, and Evan Bass, received several thousand dollars in PPP loans sent out by the government. These loans were meant to go to small businesses to fund payroll accounts and benefits for employees.
Several other celebrities have received PPP loans, though their loans were revealed last year shortly after the funds were given out. Kanye West, Tom Brady, and Reese Witherspoon all reportedly received the loan. After news of the Bachelor Nations loans broke, rumor began to spread that some, including Underwood, had inappropriately received the funds and used them for their own personal use.
Colton Underwood Sets The Record Straight
The records show that Underwood received $11,355 in loans, though he denied using those funds for himself or profiting off of his charity. “Let me save you the clickbait headline,” he wrote in his Instagram Stories on June 28. “My nonprofit filed for a PPP because we cancelled our charity events for this year. We help people living with [Cystic Fibrosis]. I don’t make a dime from my nonprofit…please stop lumping me in with the bachelor. I don’t [expletive] with them anymore, they don’t [expletive] with me. Point blank. Thanks.”
Tayisha Adams, who is co-hosting the current season of The Bachelorette after longtime host Chris Harrison was ousted, has also faced rumors that she misused the government loan. According to the records, she got $20,833. She released a statement through her rep to E! News.
“As a business owner, television and podcast host, and brand ambassador, Tayshia obtained a PPP Loan that enabled her to hire an employee (someone who was previously unemployed), to whom she offers market-based pay and benefits,” her rep explained. “Since exhausting the PPP Loan funds, but in light of the growing economy, Tayshia has committed to retaining her employee for the foreseeable future.”
As long as the funds weren’t misused in any way, there should be no need for the Bachelor stars to face censure. Bad news spreads much faster than good news, however, so despite the denials from Adams and Underwood, there may be some lingering rumors casting them as villains. No matter how reasonable their explanations, rumormongers will undoubtedly use this minor scandal to push their own narrative.
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