14 DAY TRIAL // Mama June wasn’t joking when she said she wanted TLC to right the wrong done to her family when they were fired in October 2014. She’s hired legal counsel and is sending an ultimatum to the network: either bring Here Comes Honey Boo Boo back or be prepared to pay through your nose.
Her threat comes in the aftermath of the Josh Duggar molestation scandal, where years-old police documents have revealed he molested 5 minor girls when he was a teenager. The details of the case were made public last week. As of the time of writing, 19 Kids and Counting, the Duggars’ reality show, is yet to be officially canceled.
Mama June goes to war against TLC
Mama June is no stranger to scandal herself: before TLC pulled the plug on her family reality show, they had been one of the network’s biggest exports. Then, she was photographed in bed with a convicted pedophile (who had just served time for molesting her daughter, no less), and TLC cut all ties with her family within hours.
She’s outraged that network bosses aren’t as quick to push the cancelation button in the case of the Duggars as well. Late last week, she hinted that she was thinking of suing; today, her attorney speaks for her, reaching out to the network with their demand.
Mama June wants TLC to either bring her show back (under the same conditions as those they had before the cancelation) or to pay her compensation to the tune of $1 million (€910,829), TMZ reports.
“The family's rights were violated when TLC yanked the show hours after TMZ posted a pic of June with convicted child molester Mark McDaniel. They say Josh Duggar's conduct was far worse, with fewer consequences,” Mama June’s attorney tells the celebrity publication.
He adds that TLC has until next week to meet their conditions, or the matter is going to court.
The Duggars aren’t going anywhere, most likely
As of now, TLC has not responded to Mama June’s ultimatum, or for that matter, acknowledging it in any way. Rumor has it that network bosses and producers are scrambling to find a solution to their huge predicament: if the Duggars go away, they will have lost their most successful brand so far.
They have every interest to prevent that from happening, but the fact that Josh Duggar, the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle, and a central figure on the show, molest 5 minor girls, some of whom were his sisters, is just not something that you can sweep under the rug.
In between cries of outrage, accusations that they knew of this and hid it as well, and the fear that advertisers might not want to be associated with the Duggars anymore, TLC has a tough call to make.
They believe a compromise solution would be to give Josh and his family the axe from the show, and continue with the other Duggars, particularly the older girls. An official statement in this sense is, however, pending.