Jill Duggar Missing From ‘Counting On’ Promo After Derick Dillard Makes Transphobic Remarks About TLC Star
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard weren’t included in a recent promo for the Duggar family’s TLC reality series, Counting On. Their conspicuous absence has some fans wondering whether Derick’s recent derogatory comments about another TLC star played into TLC’s decision to exclude them from the ad, and there’s speculation that they may not appear in the upcoming season of the show.
As noted on the Duggar Family News: Life Is Not All Pickles and Hairspray Facebook page, the cover photo for the Counting On Facebook page was changed on Tuesday. The new cover image is a promo for the upcoming season of Counting On, which premieres on September 11. Two of the married couples from the show appear in the image: Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo, and Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald. Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard are not pictured in the photo, nor are newlyweds Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth. However, a photo of Joy-Anna and Austin is currently being used as the Facebook page’s profile picture.
“It looks like TLC really isn’t happy with Derick’s attacks on their network and another TLC celebrity,” read the Duggar Family News Facebook post about the promo. “Notice a couple of people missing from their ad for the new season?”
https://www.facebook.com/countingontlc/photos/a.1820119154881304.1073741827.1819438424949377/2192091567684059/?type=3&permPage=1
As Refinery 29 reports, Jill Duggar’s husband outraged TLC viewers and members of the LGBTQ community earlier this month when he launched an unprovoked Twitter attack on Jazz Jennings, a 16-year-old girl who stars on the TLC reality series I Am Jazz. Derick Dillard claimed that the life Jazz is living is not reality because she’s transgender, and he also used the incorrect pronouns when referring to the teen.
“What an oxymoron… a ‘reality’ show which follows a non-reality. ‘Transgender’ is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it’s ordained by God,” Derick wrote.
“I want to be clear. I have nothing against him. I only have issue with the words and definitions being propagated here,” read a subsequent tweet.
Derick was accused of cyber-bullying Jazz, and some TLC viewers called for the network to send him the way of Josh Duggar by banning him from appearing on future episodes of Counting On. So far, TLC has only responded to the controversy by issuing a statement saying that Derick’s views do not reflect those of the network.
Change is good. pic.twitter.com/EgxrXGCaDr
— Jazz Jennings (@JazzJennings__) July 23, 2017
It would be difficult for TLC to edit Derick out of any of its previously filmed footage, especially since he’s part of a big storyline that many Counting On viewers were looking forward to seeing this season: the birth of his second child, Samuel Scott Dillard. As the Hollywood Gossip reports, fans are curious about the birth because Jill and Derick have shared so few details about it. There’s been speculation that Jill Duggar or the baby boy experienced some sort of health scare that Jill and Derick didn’t immediately want to share with the public, but some fans were hopeful that their questions about the birth would eventually be answered on Counting On.
“Honestly I still think there is something fishy about Jill’s recent birth and as much as I don’t think he should be seen on the program I am rather curious,” read one comment on the Duggar Family News Facebook page.
“I’m still convinced that the reason that Derick and Jill have kept so many details about Sam birth under their hats is because they are trying to build up the drama! They seem to be pros at this. It just seems their way of getting attention,” another fan wrote.
Those who still want to see Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard on TV may get their wish. While they don’t appear in the Facebook promo, they were not edited out of a Counting On preview that was posted on YouTube a few days after Derick made his controversial comments about Jazz.
[Featured Image by Duggar Family/Facebook]
