14 DAY TRIAL // Josh Duggar, the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, stars of the TLC hit reality series 19 Kids and Counting, is now at the center of a huge scandal, after word got out that he molested 5 minor girls when he was a teenager. With the cat out of the bag more than a decade later, TLC has decided to pull the show from its schedule.
The decision comes after the network aired a Josh-heavy marathon on the night of the day the story broke, and refusing to acknowledge the molestation case publicly. However, bosses are yet to make a long-term decision, The Hollywood Reporter notes.
TLC is “saddened and troubled”
The molestation incidents started in 2002 and went on through to the next year, police records obtained by a couple of media outlets revealed. Authorities weren’t alerted until much later, in 2006, but by that time, the statute of limitations had passed and no charges were ever filed against Josh.
Of the 5 minors he molested, both when they were asleep and awake, some were his sisters. His parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, found out about this in 2003, when one of the girls told them what Josh had been doing to her at night, and they struggled to keep the secret in the family.
In a statement to THR, TLC makes it sound as if it had no idea of this, hence their decision to pull the show temporarily from schedule, while they discuss its future with the network.
“Effective immediately, TLC has pulled all episodes of 19 Kids and Counting currently from the air,” the statement reads. “We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time.
The next 19 Kids & Counting episode, following Thursday’s marathon, was supposed to air on May 27. The statement doesn’t say when and if the series will come back.
Another huge hit for TLC
This is the second scandal with minors to hit TLC in less than 2 years: in October 2014, the network pulled and later canceled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, another major TLC brand, after matriarch Mama June got busted for reconnecting with an ex who was a convicted pedophile. The man had just gotten out of prison after a 10-year sentence for molesting her 8-year-old daughter.
Just yesterday, Mama June was threatening to sue the network for failing to respond the same way in the Duggar case as they did in hers. She argued that Josh was a central part of the show and that what he’d done was “worse” than what she’d done, because, personally, she’d never been accused of such a horrendous deed.
She wanted to sue the network for unfair treatment and termination of contract, unless the Duggars’ show was also pulled.
19 Kids and Counting, which initially started as 17 Kids and Counting, premiered in 2008 and is now in its 15th season. Its popularity has been on the rise in recent years, when members of the family became celebrities in their own right, often landing magazine covers and all kinds of lucrative deals.
Chances of TLC keeping the show after this scandal are slim to none right now, so when it does get officially canceled, the network will have lost another highly successful brand: its second in under 2 years.