The Duggars are having quite the week in terms of public relations.
On Monday, several family members were criticized for making statements in which they seemed to blame the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting for the tragedy that claimed 49 lives.
Prior to that, Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard, who are currently performing missionary work in Central America, were slammed by fans for a post in which Dillard seemed to suggest that the couple was using the impoverished residents of El Salvador to make money.
Now, Derick’s social media ineptitude seems to have dug the family an even deeper hole.
As you may have heard, rumors that Jill Duggar is pregnant with her second child have been circulating for several weeks.
Duggar women are encouraged to have as many children as possible, and their strict religious beliefs don’t allow for birth control, so the news didn’t exactly come as a shock.
Or at least it wouldn’t have, if Jill and Derick were still in the U.S.
As it is, the couple has spent most of the past year living in the center of the Zika virus host zone.
Women living in Central America have been advised to avoid getting pregnant for the next two years, as the infection has been proven to cause microcephaly and other severe birth defects.
It’s for that reason that many fans have been expressing their hopes that the news about Jill’s second pregnancy isn’t true.
It’s also for that reason that some fans were shocked when Derick seemed to confirm the news of Jill’s pregnancy in a recent social media post.
“So when will you announce Jill’s pregnancy?” a fan asked Dillard on Twitter moments ago.
The father of one responded coyly, “Not sure yet.”
It’s unclear if Derick was joking or subtly suggesting that the rumors are true.
Either way, his timing was horrendous.
According to the World Health Organization, earlier today, El Salvador confirmed it’s first case of microcephaly linked to the Zika virus.
Derick has joked about Zika in the past, and it didn’t go over well the first time.
If this is another one of the former accountant’s attempts at humor, we think it’s safe to say he didn’t learn his lesson the first time.