Thankfully, TLC decided to step up to the plate and do the right thing by immediately removing 19 Kids and Counting from its schedule after Josh Duggar‘s history of sexually abusing underage girls (and his parents’ attempts to cover all that up) came to light this week. There’s no word as to whether the show is cancelled for good, and before all that, TLC was actually running a MARATHON of the show, full of episodes that focused a lot on Josh, so… take from that what you will.
Here’s the statement TLC released:
“Effective immediately, TLC has pulled all episodes of 19 Kids and Counting currently from the air. 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.”
Of course, they can’t legally say anything else about it, and there is precedence for this since they also cancelled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo after Mama June was letting a convicted child molester have access to her children, but WTF is wrong with these families? I honestly can’t deal.
Oh, and here’s another disgusting element to this whole thing: police have actually destroyed the records regarding Duggar’s crimes, because that’s totally what law enforcement does?
On Thursday, May 21, a spokesperson for the Springdale Police Department confirmed to Us Weekly that local circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman signed for the offense report from 2006 to be expunged.
The records allegedly contained information of Duggar’s suspected molestation of the girls when he was 14 years old. According to TMZ, the now-destroyed investigation documents said Duggar allegedly fondled the breasts and genitals of the females.
Meanwhile, local Arkansas paper, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, obtained a copy of the report on Thursday. The paper said the report was “heavily redacted” and did not include the identities of the kids involved.
I’m glad the kids’ names have been redacted – the victims should always be protected. But protecting this sick piece of shit and his equally sick parents? No, just NO.