On Thursday, Josh Duggar, one of the many stars of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, admitted that he molested young girls when he was a teenager.
That same night, TLC aired a marathon of 19 Kids and Counting. On Friday, multiple episodes are still scheduled to air back-to-back.
Viewers were quick to respond on Twitter, sending missives to the official TLC account with the hashtag #CancelTheDuggars.
Though critics are reporting that, as of Friday afternoon, TLC has substituted other programs for the previously scheduled 19 Kids slot, TLC did not announce formally that it would pull the episodes or cancel the show. When reached for comment on Friday by ThinkProgress, a spokesperson for the network said it had none.
Duggar, 27, is the oldest son in the Duggar clan. He had not publicly acknowledged the accusations from 12 years ago until InTouch magazine published a story that included police records obtained from Springdale, AR. (InTouch was able to acquire the police report through a Freedom of Information Act request.) The records had been hidden since 2006, and Josh’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, knew about Josh’s molestation of multiple female minors for over a year before reporting to the police. When Jim Bob revealed Josh’s transgressions to the elders of his church, they waited three months before alerting authorities.
There is precedent for a network erring on the side of, well, not airing shows when one of the stars in question comes under public scrutiny. As the number of rape allegations against Bill Cosby grew exponentially, TV Land pulled reruns of The Cosby Show. And even TLC has been down this road before: after Mama June on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was found to be dating a child molester, the network pulled the plug on the show. It’s unclear why TLC wouldn’t do the same in the immediate aftermath of these sex abuse revelations, especially considering the brand of the Duggars: extremely conservative family values.
Then again, 19 Kids and Counting is a ratings smash and viewership is higher than ever. Last fall’s season premiere garnered the highest ratings in the series’ history. Paired with the premiere of Little People, Big World, the show carried TLC to the number one spot that night among cable networks in the most highly coveted female demographics. As recently as last week, it was one of the top twenty shows on cable, with nearly 3 million people tuning in. (For context, the number one cable show was Game of Thrones, with about 6.5 million viewers, and the only shows between GoT and 19 Kids were the NBA playoffs and WWE.)
That viewership could walk, though, in light not only of Josh’s history of sex abuse but his family and his church’s inaction on behalf of Josh’s victims.
Update:
As of 1:30 p.m. EST, TLC has pulled 19 Kids and Counting from its schedule, according to The Hollywood Reporter.