The television network TLC on Friday took the reality show 19 Kids and Counting off the air, a day after one of its stars, Josh Duggar, resigned from his job over allegations that he molested underage girls when he was a teenager.  TLC attracted criticism when it aired a 19 Kids and Counting marathon on Thursday night. The most recent season of the show ended on Tuesday.  A TLC statement said: “Effective immediately, TLC has pulled all episodes of 19 Kids and Counting currently from the air. We are deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and victims at this difficult time.”  Earlier in the day Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who is making a second run for the White House, came to Duggar’s defence with a statement in which he lamented the “insensitive bloodthirst” of those reporting the story.  Duggar, 27, is the oldest child in the Arkansas family featured in 19 Kids and Counting. On Thursday, he resigned from his job with the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobbying group, and issued a statement regarding allegations first reported by In Touch magazine. He said he felt remorse for “wrongdoing”.  Related: Josh Duggar and the sexual abuse allegations rocking 19 Kids and Counting  “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends,” Duggar said.  The identities of his victims were redacted from the police report published by In Touch, but it has been suggested that some of his sisters were among them.  The Duggar family have associated with and campaigned for a number of prominent Republican politicians – including Huckabee, in Iowa in 2008.  On Friday, Huckabee published a lengthy statement on his official Facebook page in which he said he and his wife, Janet, wanted to “affirm our support for the Duggar family”.  “Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, ‘inexcusable,’ but that doesn’t mean ‘unforgivable’,” he wrote.  Questions have been raised about the time it took Duggar’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, to contact police after learning of their son’s behaviour, and over their having opted to pursue religious remedies rather than professional counseling.  On Thursday the Duggars issued a statement which said: “That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before. Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God. We pray that as people watch our lives they see that we are not a perfect family.”  In his statement, Huckabee – who in January, while criticising Barack and Michelle Obama’s parenting skills, said Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were “wholesome and wonderful” – said Josh Duggar and his family had “dealt with” the issue and “were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities”.  “No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story,” he wrote. “Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things.”  Huckabee added: “Those who have enjoyed revealing this long ago sins [sic] in order to discredit the Duggar family have actually revealed their own insensitive bloodthirst, for there was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed – not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims.”  Related: Mike Huckabee in Iowa to 'sound the alarm' on gay marriage  Huckabee has a strong following among evangelical Christians, a support base which propelled him to second place in the Republican presidential primaries in 2008, after winning the Iowa caucus. He declared his second run for the White House earlier this month, and has since taken familiar policy positions including strong opposition to same-sex marriage.  Jim Bob Duggar was a member of the Arkansas house of representatives from 1999 to 2002, the year he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate. Huckabee was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.  In his statement on the Duggar case, Huckabee said: “Janet and I love Jim Bob and Michelle and their entire family. They are no more perfect a family than any family, but their Christian witness is not marred in our eyes because following Christ is not a declaration of our perfection, but of HIS perfection. It is precisely because we are all sinners that we need His grace and His forgiveness.”
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee comes to defence of family on Facebook and laments ‘insensitive bloodthirst’ of those reporting the story