Hulu pulls ’19 Kids and Counting’ amid Duggar scandal

Streaming giant Hulu has severed ties with TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” amid controversy over one of the reality show’s stars.

The website, which is co-owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, Disney’s ABC Television Group and 21st Century Fox’s Fox Broadcasting Co., confirmed Thursday that the reality show is no longer available on its platform.

Now, when users go to hulu.com/19-kids-and-counting, an error message shows up that reads “the page you’re looking for doesn’t exist.” Though the streaming website currently still has “19 Kids and Counting” content, if users click on it they are redirected to TLC’s website.

The Hulu news comes after a backlash against the program following reports that Josh Duggar, one of its stars, had inappropriate conduct with minors when he was a teenager. The scandal ignited a social media firestorm, with many expressing anger and disappointment toward the large Arkansas family featured on the show.

Using the hashtags “#CancelTheDuggars,” “DitchTheDuggars” and “#BoycottTLC,” many people took stands on social media. A handful of companies, including Walgreens, Payless Shoe Source, Choice Hotels, Pure Leaf Iced Tea and General Mills, said they plan on removing their ads from the show.

Now available in about 94 million homes in the U.S., TLC is the second-most-widely-viewed channel owned by Discovery Communications, behind the Discovery Channel. From late September to early May, TLC, whose target audience is women, averaged more than 1 million viewers a night during prime-time hours, according to Nielsen.

Though TLC said last week that it was yanking repeats of “19 Kids and Counting” from its schedule, it has yet to officially cancel the show. The network declined to comment.

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