Updated June 27, 2017, 10:18 a.m. PT: Shortly after the first clips of DeMario Jackson emerged showing him telling his versions of the alleged events in the Bachelor in Paradise incident, a new set of statements has come out from that interview wherein he defends Corinne Olympios.
For Jackson, he seems perturbed by how quickly the public applied labels to both he and Olympios during the initial reports. “The minute you release this black man’s face and this white girl’s face,” he shared, “before either of us commented on it, I was already a ‘rapist.'” Jackson also commented on the despicability of Olympios being labeled a “whore” and a “slut” by those who had not heard her version of events. “They were slut-shaming her because of what she did last season with Nick [Viall]. For me, it goes back to the human race. We failed.” Jackson’s account of the scandal fallout makes it appear as if he is on Olympios’ side in this matter, removing those harmful labels from both of their names in the process.
Original story:
After a few short weeks of frenzied reporting on who did what to whom on the set of Bachelor in Paradise, DeMario Jackson is telling his side of the story. Jackson, who was named from the very beginning as one of the people allegedly involved in this incident, sat down with E! News to exclusively detail his first meeting with Corinne Olympios on the BIP set as well as what he believes happened that led to the complete shutdown of production while Warner Bros. studios conducted an investigation.
More: BIP‘s Carly Waddell Shares Details About Her Wedding Dress & Guest List
The interview, which will take place over two nights in three installments, begins with Jackson telling E! News‘ Melanie Bromley what his state of mind and role going into filming was. “It was crazy from the last season with the fake girlfriend,” Jackson told Bromley, referencing the incident on the current season of The Bachelorettewhen a young woman claiming to be Jackson’s girlfriend appeared to tell Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay that Jackson was still attached to someone. “I was the villain for this, straight-up. I was nervous. I was sweating [coming onto BIP].”
Jackson then went on to tell Bromley about his first real conversation with Olympios. He made it clear that the two appeared to bond because they have been painted as “villains” on their respective seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette; this gave Jackson the impression they could be friends.
“Our first real conversation was at the bar. We were hanging out. We kind of were just complimenting each other on being villains. I was like, ‘Look, I’ve accepted this role.’ We were kind of just laughing, like, ‘Oh, we’re about to dominate Paradise!’ Like homie stuff, like really, really like friends. And then, you know, we started having a little bit more fun… and had a few drinks,” he detailed.
More: Corinne Olympios’ Boyfriend Gives His Full Support During the BIP Fallout
Jackson continued to detail that he and Olympios took some shots — here is where Olympios’ own account can be somewhat confirmed, as she claims her drinking led to blacking out — before heading to a more secluded area. In his mind, Jackson wanted to make sure there were cameras around because he believed his race might have something to do with how his actions would be perceived with Olympios in this situation.
“It’s crazy because when you’re a man — mostly African-American man — no matter where you’re at, you always look for things that can help you out. And at that moment, I made sure the cameras followed us. It just seemed too perfect in a sense for me, and at the point, that’s when my Spidey senses got up,” Jackson stated, before going on to claim that Olympios made the first move.
Jackson’s claims also involve statements that Olympios pushed for oral sex and that she was the one who was the aggressor, but that he wanted to go along with it (he speaks about it in the video clip above).
“[We were] kissing, rubbing, touching. It’s nothing too sexual yet. Things got wild because it was more her being the aggressor, which was sexy… When you have a very attractive girl telling you what she wants, it’s like a very, like, ‘Wow, OK! This is hot. This is very… I like it.’ […] I get out of the pool, and I have my legs in the pool, and I’m just hanging out. This is when she gets up out of the pool and puts her lady parts right on my face,” he told Bromley.
More: Corinne Olympios Allegedly Remembers Something About the BIP Incident
While it’s easy to push blame onto one another during a tense incident like this, until statements of true fact can be made, it’s hard to tell whose side you should come down on. After Warner Bros. completed an independent investigation into the incident and found no evidence of misconduct, Olympios’ legal team stated they were going to conduct their own investigation in an attempt to exonerate Olympios. Hopefully, if the investigation does go through, Jackson may be exonerated of any claims he violated consent too.
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