'19 Kids and Counting' News: Will TLC Remove Josh Duggar From Series?
"19 Kids and Counting," the family-oriented TV series that features the life of the Duggar Family on TLC, just suffered a major hitch in its broadcasting life. Last Friday, May 22, TLC stopped airing the show amidst the child molestation scandal that involves Josh Duggar, a member of the Duggar family.
According to a report in Entertainment Tonight, the network is considering the possibility of taking Josh Duggar out of the series because of recent reports. TLC believes that this move will not "hurt the show" in terms of ratings as Josh's sisters, the Duggar daughters, are the ones who are said to be bringing in the ratings.
The network may also be forced to cancel the show altogether if a majority of its big advertisers withdraw support from the show. General Mills was the first one to go after news of the scandal broke out. The show is apparently one of the network's biggest earners so the report also says that a middle ground will likely be found.
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If the show continues airing, it will have to deal with the repercussions of the scandal as well as the disappearance of one of their family members on air. This may spell the difference between continuing its high rating or experiencing a decline.
Reports came out earlier last week that Josh Duggar as a teenager molested several teenage girls, some of whom include his sisters between 2002 and 2003. The incidents were not known to the police until 2006. The Huffington Post says that Arkansas Police were asked by a judge to destroy the records of the investigation into the molestation reports. Josh's parents also told police that they had "disciplined" their son themselves.
According to another report on CNN, Josh Duggar issued an apology after the reports came out. He said that he was "acting inexcusably." He said sorry that he "hurt others," including his family and close friends, in a Facebook post. He likewise mentioned that after he confessed his wrongdoing, his parents got counselling for him and those affected by what he did.
His parents also issued a statement through Facebook.
"Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes and we were shocked. We had tried to teach him right from wrong," they wrote.
Josh has cancelled some of his public appearances and has also resigned from his position at the Family Research Council, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a Christian worldview."
