Mayoral Madness: How Is Jack’s Rapist Past Not Public Knowledge On Days of Our Lives?

There was quite the Salem mayoral debate on Days of Our Lives Thursday, and the dirt sure was flying. First, Jack brought up a kiss between his opponent, Abe, and his assistant — which was crazy enough — but then JJ fought back on Abe’s behalf and brought up his dad’s past as a rapist. Then something even odder happened.

It was as if this was a shock to the press who were gathered there. What?! It’s not like Jack (Matthew Ashford) running for mayor is a newsflash.

He’s been running as the clean slate candidate for a while now. So why haven’t any reporters done their due diligence and researched this guy? We all know there’s plenty out there.

By the end of the episode, it looked as if one reporter knew — and yet he needed Kayla (Mary Beth Evans), the woman Jack raped when she was married to him oh-so-many years ago, to confirm the information. Again…what?!

This was all brought out in a court case decades ago and should be available in the public records. Eve (Kassie DePaiva) should have known that something like this isn’t going to stay hidden. Why lie about it? She’s just making it worse for Jack down the line.

As for Jack, if he had dealt with it head-on, telling everyone he’s heard that about himself but has no memory of it — right at that moment — he may have been able to get away with it. By playing it off like it wasn’t true, he deserves whatever mess this creates for him.

But that’s this Jack in a nutshell — a true mess. It’s understandable why JJ (Casey Moss) feels so disillusioned by this version of his father.

He’s nothing like the man he once loved so fiercely and admired. Had he spoken up, he would have been one step closer to being that man. Don’t worry, JJ, we feel your pain too.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.