As the controversy continues surrounding 19 Kids and Counting’s Josh Duggar and parents Jim Bob and Michelle, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’s matriarch Mama June Shannon has been about as vocally damning as anyone else out there, and she shows no signs of stopping. She recently went hardcore against TLC for, as she sees it, the network being far more understanding of the Duggars’ situation than they ever were where her show was concerned. Mama June isn’t backing down without a fight.
To bring everyone up to speed right quick, it was revealed that a teenaged Josh Duggar fondled five underage girls, some of whom were his sisters, and TLC pulled 19 Kids and Counting from their schedule, but hasn’t officially canceled it. Mama June has expressed much outrage over this non-cancelation, as the network quickly put an end to Honey Boo Boo after claims were made that Mama June was dating a convicted child molester, something she still denies to this day. And after initially threatening to sue, she’s still railing on the channel for what she sees as unfair treatment. Here’s how she put it to TheWrap.
What Josh did and what happened to the Duggar family was a whole lot worse than what we were doing. I didn’t cover up anything. I was honest from the very beginning. I didn’t touch anybody. I didn’t lie. I haven’t lied. The kids have not lied.
Anyone looking at this situation with a sense of objectivity can probably understand why Mama June is so pissed off, since her show got yanked from the air without proof of wrongdoing from anyone involved with it. But then 19 Kids and Counting gave TLC one of its biggest ratings bonanzas ever with the wedding episode between virgins Jill Duggar and Derek Dillard, so it’s also relatively easy to understand why network execs don’t want to make any rash decisions involving that series’ future, which may also include a spinoff centered on Jill and Derek.
And while there is plenty of negativity out there surrounding Josh and his parents, their public appearances have seemingly been as calculated as possible in order to avoid creating more drama. Mama June also had something to say about that.
They’re telling them what to say, or what to do, or not what to do. Because that’s how it worked with us. ‘This is what you’re gonna say, you’re gonna stick to it.’ When we went through the canceling of the show, they wouldn’t let us put our own statements out. They wrote them up and they were released to the public as a write-up mock interview.
Mama June Shannon, who doesn’t have anything new to share as far as her possible lawsuit goes, says that she’s going to be on TV again one day soon, and that it definitely won’t involve TLC. Perhaps she’d be wise to start slowing down all the shit-talking, in case other potential networks might be inspired to back away.
