Only a few weeks after Derick Dillard’s repeated attacks on the transgender community got him kicked out of Counting On, the official Dillard Family Facebook account has come under fire for falsely linking transgendered people and child abuse. The post in question came just after news of Counting On‘s alleged renewal, leading to questions of whether Derick would be the only Dillard family member to get the boot.
The Hollywood Gossip was the first to point out the post in question, which consists of a video about gender identity education that the Dillard family shared from news organization NowThis Her. The video itself is actually positive, and promotes gender awareness among young children–but the Dillards have taken that intent and twisted it, suggesting that such early awareness is akin to “child abuse.”
Here’s a screenshot of the Dillard Family’s Facebook post, followed by the NowThis Her video:
As many people pointed out in the comments under the video, it’s more than a little misguided to try and connect education with child abuse–particularly when the Duggar family has suffered actual child abuse by the hand of one of its own members.
Of particular interest, though, is the fact that it’s the Dillard Family’s Facebook page that shared the inflammatory comment. Before now, only Derick had been responsible for his family’s most overt transphobic attacks; now, whether or not Derick actually wrote the comment in question, he’s attached his entire family to it.
The issue is especially relevant now, in light of strong rumors suggesting that Counting On has been renewed for a new season. A Celebrity Insider post claimed that John Rotan, Counting On‘s director of photography, was with the Duggars during the Thanksgiving holiday and filmed several scenes expected to be included in forthcoming episodes.
TLC has yet to make an official announcement about the next season of Counting On. As we wrote shortly after Derick’s firing, it was generally believed that the network, having gotten rid of Counting On‘s most controversial cast member, would now be able to renew the show indefinitely. However, if the Dillard Family continues to share social media posts that fans and detractors are used to seeing come from Derick, TLC might find itself weighing whether to fire all the Dillards or cancel Counting On outright.
(Photo credit: Dillard Family via Instagram)
