Duggar Family News: Derick Dillard Tries To Be Friendly On IG, Gets Slammed For Racist, Tactless Response
Counting On star Derick Dillard is trying his best to become a lot friendlier on social media. Fresh off his recent controversy over his Twitter attack on transgender teen and fellow reality TV star Jazz Jennings, Derick has made it a point to fill his Instagram account with positive posts and heartwarming pictures of his growing family. While his followers’ reactions to his uploads have been mostly positive, his interactions with his fans in the comments section of one of his most recent posts have been met with a notable degree of criticism.
The interaction in question happened in the comments section of the Counting On star’s latest picture of his family. Derick and his wife Jill Duggar Dillard recently joined C3, a church-based organization that caters to college students and teens, and both seem to be hyped about their new ministry. Unsurprisingly, Derick’s family photo has garnered a strong, positive response from his social media followers.
As soon as Derick Dillard joined in on the conversation, however, things began to get a bit awkward.
One of Derick’s Instagram followers extended an inquiry about Derick’s new ministry. Derick, for his part, responded to his Instagram follower promptly. The Counting On star’s reply, however, ended up being a bit off-tangent and almost inappropriate.
“I don’t know if I’d be welcome at your church. My husband is Chinese. Is that acceptable?” Derick’s Instagram follower asked.
“Yes! We love Chinese!” Derick wrote in his reply.
The Duggar in-law’s response has managed to attract the attention of the family’s social media critics, with many taking issue with the fact that Derick seemed to have taken race, which is a rather serious topic, very lightly. Apart from this, many of the family’s critics also felt that the reality TV star’s response was not well-thought and borderline racist.
Derick’s response to his social media follower has become a point of interest in the Duggar-themed Facebook group Duggar Family News: Life Is Not All Pickles And Hairspray, with many members of the social media community slamming the reality TV star for his latest gaffe. While many admitted that Derick was likely making a joke when he replied to his follower, many also agreed that his response came across as inappropriate.
“I think this was just plain lack of tact. ‘Yes, we love and welcome all ethnicities’ would have gone over a little better,” one commenter wrote.
“I honestly don’t think that was a deliberate racist comment. I think he was trying to be funny. Stupid, ignorant, but not malicious,” wrote another commenter.
Overall, Derick’s response to his Instagram follower seemed to be an unfortunate case of the reality TV star just having terrible timing when it comes to jokes. As stated by one of the reality TV star’s critics, it would have been a lot easier for the Counting On star to simply reassure his Instagram fan with a few words of encouragement, instead of making light of his follower’s question.
Derick Dillard, his wife Jill Duggar and their growing family are featured in Counting On, which is scheduled to return for its latest season this coming September on TLC.
[Featured Image by Jill Duggar Dillard/Instagram]
