Hulu Ditches Duggar Show, Advertisers Fleeing

TLC may have no choice but to cancel the show in the wake of a molestation scandal.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

May 28 2015 6:36 PM EST

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19 Kids and Counting, the TLC reality show about the anti-LGBT Duggar clan, is on wobbly legs following the recent admission by one of the cast members that he molested children a decade ago.

The Duggar scandal -- which involves an admission by the clan's oldest child, Josh, that as a teenager he sexually abused girls, including some of his sisters -- continues to spell bad news for the family. Josh Duggar, now 27, resigned from his prominent role at the antigay Family Research Council as a result of the revelation.

TLC has pulled 19 Kids episodes from the air but hasn't officially canceled the show. Now Hulu has made its own decision, removing the program from its streaming service, TMZ reports. Advertisers are also abandoning the show, including General Mills, Payless ShoeSource, and Choice Hotels, according to E! It would seem difficult at this point for TLC to justify keeping the show on the air.

LGBT advocates are keeping an eye on the story because of the Duggars' anti-LGBT activism, which included matriarch Michelle Duggar taping a robocall that said trans women would pose a molestation threat to children if they were allowed to use the restrooms of their choice. The call was part of a campaign against an antidiscrimination ordinance in Fayetteville, Ark.