Duggar family's Derick Dillard shares cryptic post as TLC fires him for transphobic rant
"I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda," Derick tweeted.
There appears no end to crises and backlash for the Duggar family. Just when they were trying to move on from Josh Duggar's alleged sexual abuse and cheating scandal, the family's son-in-law Derick Dillard has ignited a new controversy for his transphobic comments against Jazz Jennings.
On Saturday, 11 November, the husband of Jill Duggar shared a series of tweets constantly addressing her as "him" and emphasised that just because someone "feels" like something doesn't mean they become that.
"I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child. It's sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what's on TV these days," the reality star tweeted and slammed the parents of the 17-year-old transgender from I am Jazz for pushing an "agenda."
Jazz is being taken advantage of, as part of a larger agenda. Iï¸ really have nothing against the kid and wish him all the best in life. I just hate seeing him used this way.
— Derick Dillard (@derickmdillard) November 9, 2017
Many considered his tweet as offensive towards the teen reality star and the transgender community as a whole but Dillard continued to claim that he "never bullied anyone. Just said I didn't agree with what is being propagated on TV. I'm expressing my view of what should be treated as reality; if I say I feel like I am Nepali, that doesn't make me so."
The backlash against the father-of-two forced TLC to announce that he has been fired from the network.
"We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future. We want to reiterate that Derick's personal statements do not reflect the views of the network. TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so," the network, which now airs Counting On, the spinoff show featuring the Duggar sisters Jill, Jessa, Jinger and Joy-Anna, said in a statement.
— TLC Network (@TLC) November 11, 2017
Reacting to the backlash, Dillard shared a cryptic Instagram post: "Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate him. The second is that if you love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."
However, social media users continue to slam him. "Someone's butt hurt about getting fired," wrote one internet user. "Such maliciousness by you Derick," added another.
Meanwhile, Jim Bob Duggar and his family have maintained silence on the matter. Of late, TLC has heavily focused on the family's most popular couple Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo and Jessa and Ben Seewald. With the wedding of Joy-Anna and Joseph, the network has largely ignored Jill's life.
