We may never see scandal-scarred Josh Duggar on TV again but he’s still on social media, posting birthday wishes to his son.
It’s Michael James Duggar’s 4th birthday, so he served as the reason for daddy Josh’s return to Twitter and Instagram late Monday.
“Happy 4th Birthday Michael James!” read the tweet, illustrated with a picture of a cute tyke with a bowl haircut.
It’s Duggar’s first social-media appearance since May 21, when his secret past as a teenage child molester spilled out into the regular media, shut down his career as a conservative lobbyist, and threatened the future of his family’s popular reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, on the TLC network.
Josh Duggar’s last public statement was a long apologia on the family Facebook page. confessing to “inexcusable” behavior in his past which he deeply regretted but didn’t explain in detail.
When he was 14 and 15, Josh, the eldest Duggar child, now 27, molested five underage girls, including four of his own little sisters, in his Arkansas home. He confessed at the time to his pious parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, who kept it under wraps for years until the statute of limitations expired. Josh was never charged with a crime.
Because the Duggars promoted their Christian family values on their show and in their politics, the reaction in social media was instantaneous and toxic.
Major advertisers abandoned the show, TLC yanked reruns from the schedule and may yet cancel it outright, and the Duggars were the targets of a roar of criticism across all media platforms, with the exception of Sarah Palin.
Even if TLC ultimately decides to keep the show or retain some version of it with just some of the Duggars, Josh is unlikely to be one of them.
Two of Josh’s victims, his sisters Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Duggar Seewald, returned to tweeting about their families, kids and God last week, after telling Fox’s Megyn Kelly they long ago forgave Josh and that having their secret exposed is worse than being molested as sleeping children.
[“source-usatoday.com”]