‘Bachelorette’ Star Leo Dottavio Gives Theory On Bekah Martinez’s Motive For Posting Sexual Harassment Claims

Another Bachelorette star is in hot water, and he’s firing back at a former Bachelor star for stirring up drama without doing her homework.

As theInquisitr previously reported, Becca Kufrin’s Bachelorette suitor Leo Dottavio has been accused of sexual harassment dating back to his college years, but the accusations are being passed on by Bekah Martinez, a contestant on Arie Luyendyk Jr’s season of The Bachelor. Martinez claims that multiple women contacted her through social media to allege that Dottavio, a Hollywood stuntman, harassed them and sent unwanted pics of his genitals in the past. Martinez posted screenshots of DMs from the unidentified women who said Leo acted inappropriately with them but she offered no actual proof of the claims.

In a new interview with TMZ, Leo Dottavio blasted Bekah Martinez for starting rumors about him without substantiating any of the claims. Dottavio told TMZ the allegation that he sent unsolicited “d**k pics” is a complete lie and he slammed Martinez, who he has never met, for putting out stories that, in some cases, come from a third party.

“I don’t know her, I don’t know who that is,” Dottavio said of Martinez. “I know that she has been putting PMs from years ago from my college days out there. As a human being I know it’s been a long time since college. I’m a different person since college. College was 14 years ago for me so I’m really hurt that anybody would ever say that I harassed them in any way, shape or form.”

#TheBachelorette's #LeoDottavio addresses accusations of sexual harassment by #BekahMartinez https://t.co/31YvRedGZT

— ET Canada (@ETCanada) August 4, 2018

Dottavio said none of the allegations posted by Martinez were “concrete” and urged anyone who has something to say about his actions back in the day to come forward to talk to him so he can address it.

When asked if he ever sent any unwanted photos to women, Leo said, “What I did in college was college. I wouldn’t say unsolicited, absolutely not.”

Dottavio also gave his theory on why he thinks Bekah Martinez came forward to post the unsubstantiated sexual harassment accusations against him, which she first stumbled upon on a Reddit thread.

“In the Bachelor world they say that she does this for attention, to stay relevant. I know she has problems with that so I think that’s why she did it. I think it would have been nice if she would have just reached out to me or maybe reached out to those women and tried to find proof or anything that could actually substantiate any of the claims that they’re making.”

In an interview with TooFab, Dottavio slammed Bekah Martinez’s reckless posting of third-party claims against him, and he questioned why anyone would make accusations against him through Martinez.

“Right now, she’s tarnishing my name and ruining my life without any evidence of anything,” Dottavio said. “If I’m correct here, I don’t think anyone said, ‘He did this to me.’ It was all a friend of a friend or ‘I heard he did this to a person… so I don’t know who they are. I want to know who it was. I want to talk about it. If I did something wrong, I want to right that wrong. I’m not gonna just let it fester. Like, talk to me if that’s how you feel instead of speaking for a friend through some random girl on Instagram who has a few followers.”

Earlier this week, Leo Dottavio addressed the allegations against him on his Instagram story. The Bachelorette star said no one has ever accused him of sexual harassment or has told him he did anything that made them feel uncomfortable.

“However, I am not a perfect person nor have I ever claimed to be,” he added.

The accusations against Leo Dottavio come just ahead of his appearance on the summer spinoff Bachelor in Paradise and on the heels of a Bachelorette season that included a string of controversial contestants. Kufrin’s suitor, Lincoln Adim, was recently convicted of sexual assault and The Bachelorette frontrunner, Garrett Yrigoyen, has been under fire for his past behavior on social media.

Bachelor host Chris Harrison recently addressed the impact social media is having on the ABC franchise, something Leo Dottavio is finding out the hard way.

“I don’t know if anyone’s ready for that kind of spotlight,” Harrison told The Hollywood Reporter of the show’s contestants. “I don’t think that anybody in this day and age is ready for the mob mentality and that’s what it’s become. It is a mob mentality of — you’re guilty, your life is ruined, it’s done, you’re gone. That is the scrutiny that everyone is under.”

You can see Leo Dottavio talking about Bekah Martinez and the allegations against him in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHU7hkg9JSM