DeMario Jackson: Two Women Accuse Controversial ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Star of Rape
DeMario Jackson, who was at the center of a Bachelor in Paradise misconduct investigation and caused Season 4 of the show to temporarily halt production, has been accused of rape by two women.
On Tuesday, two women filed a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the former reality star, claiming he separately forced them into nonconsensual sex after taking them out on dates, reports the Los Angeles Times.
After the two separate incidents, the women — who used Jane Does in court documents — reported their alleged assaults to the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center.
In both instances, Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 said they were aware of Jackson’s controversial post on The Bachelor franchise before agreeing to go out with him.
In a statement to Rolling Stone provided through his publicist Eve Sarkisyan from Y.E.S. Public Relations, Jackson denied the allegations.
“Four years ago, I, DeMario Jackson, walked directly into the Los Angeles police station after being falsely accused of raping two white women without a lawyer present and the police let me freely leave,” began Jackson. “Here is why: My arriving and departing Uber receipts proved when, where and the time I was with these women and the truth is my receipts proved I was completely out of the vicinity,” he continued. “In addition to that, I provided screenshots of text message communication the day after they filed police reports. The authorities looked at all my evidence and let me, a six foot, four inches tall Black man leave that precinct without a doubt because I did no wrong. I am innocent, I did not hurt or harm those women.”
Jackson said his “name was smeared beyond measure” and that he was “I am formally starting the process to clear my name.”
“The criminal case (District Attorney cleared me) is about my freedom and the civil case is about my money. I will defend myself,” he added. “Thank you all for the love and support.”
In June 2017, a sexual encounter between then-contestants Jackson and Corinne Olympios — both of whom were openly drinking heavily that day — was caught on camera and briefly shut down production on the show, which places franchise alums from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette in an elaborate game of romantic speed dating in Mexico.
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Warner Bros. subsequently launched an internal investigation into “allegations of misconduct,” later determining nothing improper had occurred. (Production resumed without Olympios and Jackson.) While Olympios originally released a statement referring to herself as a “victim,” during the season reunion for the show, she said there were “no hard feelings between me and DeMario.”
As the L.A. Times reports, Jane Doe 1 met Jackson on the popular dating app Bumble just months after the Bachelor in Paradise reunion aired while she was a senior at the University of Southern California. After their first date, Jackson drove her back to campus, where he kissed her goodnight before he allegedly “exposed his penis.”
“Jane Doe 1 was shocked and felt trapped,” the complaint says. “She was not ready for this meeting to escalate so quickly. In an attempt to set boundaries, Jane Doe 1 told Defendant that his behavior was unacceptable.”
The two continued to see each other, eventually having consensual sex on their third date. But things took a turn after Jackson met her at a bar, she says, where she claims he showed up already intoxicated. The two eventually went back to Jane Doe’s apartment in hopes that he would “sleep it off,” but instead, she claims in the filing, he raped her.
“Defendant DeMario Jackson pinned Jane Doe 1 down on the bed,” the complaint says. “[He] then forcefully sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1 by violently shoving his unprotected penis into her unlubricated vagina.”
“I couldn’t move, so all I could think to do was to say, ‘No, no, stop!’ And he just ignored me. It was like he didn’t even hear me,” Jane Doe recalled, according to the L.A. Times. “I just kept thinking: ‘Just keep saying no. No one can ever take that away from you. If you’re going to die, you’ll know you fought the only way you could.’”
Jane Doe 1 reported the crime that same night, and a report of the alleged assault was submitted to the Los Angeles Police Department that same day — documents which the L.A. Times viewed.
Jane Doe 2 says she met Jackson at an Amtrak station in 2019. She later messaged him on Instagram, where they agreed to meet for a date at his home. While there, Jackson allegedly asked Jane Doe to engage in anal sex after learning she was on her period. She initially consented, she says, but changed her mind after the intercourse turned painful.
According to the lawsuit, she told him to stop, but he then forced her into performing oral sex.
“He was holding me down with his whole body weight, and I started to kind of choke a little bit because I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled. “Somehow, I eventually got my hands free and pushed him off. But then he started to have [vaginal] sex with me. I told him ‘no,’ and he said, ‘It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s just the tip.’”
When she reported the crime, she FaceTimed Jackson with LAPD officers present, where he allegedly admitted to the sexual assault and apologized. But despite the confession, the investigation was dropped.
Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 did not know about each other’s cases until they retained the same lawyer, with whom they are now seeking legal action. Jackson did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
This story was updated on 9/28 at 11:37am ET with a new statement from DeMario Jackson.