Derick Dillard has come under fire for a surprising reason that has nothing to do with his declining health and bizarrely hirsute appearance for once.
The 27-year-old is feeling the heat from fans following a public display of affection with wife Jill Duggar at her sister Jinger’s wedding this month.
One inspired by family sex offender Josh Duggar no less.
When Jinger Duggar married Jeremy Vuolo two weekends ago, attendees Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard did something that felt very harmless.
And yet, it made more than a few people think of … Joshua.
After Jeremy and Jinger exchanged vows, one of her bridesmaids, Jill, was ready to be escorted down the aisle by one of Jer’s groomsmen.
That’s when Derick, who was not a part of the wedding party, jumped out of his seat, grabbed his wife, dipped her back and kissed her.
Yes, that happened, as the groomsmen awkwardly watched.
Moreover, the Dillards proceeded to walk out of the church together as the jilted groomsmen were forced to walk behind them alone.
After observing Derick’s wedding antics, some viewers who watch Counting On online took to the show’s Facebook page to complain.
“I just watched it and that was super rude of him!!! Then laid her back for a kiss right in the middle of somebody else’s wedding!” one fan said.
“RUDE! Don’t NOBODY want Jill but him!”
“There was no need for him to kiss his wife,” another card-carrying member of Duggar Nation commented following the strange scene.
“He had his wedding day and tried to steal something from Jinger and Jeremy. It made him look needy and very insecure. Very childish.”
What does Josh have to do with this, you ask?
As more than a few fans pointed out, what Derick did is a Duggar family tradition of sorts, and one originating with Josh and Anna Duggar.
Josh did something very similar during the 2012 wedding of Anna’s sister, Priscilla Keller, and David Waller, a close friend of the Duggars.
In that case, Anna and Josh were both members of the wedding party, but in similar fashion, they stopped near the front pews of the church.
As they were walking down the aisle together, they publicly embraced in a move that was clearly designed to show off their love to the masses.
(If people knew then what they know now …)
Coincidence, you might ask? Not likely. Josh pulled the stunt again at Jill and Derick’s 2014 wedding. So Der has brought it full circle.
While Josh and Anna were together and happy at Jinger’s wedding, he kept a very low profile and was edited out of any TLC footage.
In the case of Jill’s wedding, Anna was in the wedding party while her husband was not – again, for reasons we likely realize in hindsight.
Very much like Derick did with Jill 12 days ago, Josh had to yank his wife away from her groomsman escort to kiss her in the church.
Interestingly, Ben Seewald also stole Jessa Duggar away from her escort and walked her down the aisle after that same wedding ceremony.
Jessa and Ben couldn’t awkwardly make out in public, however, because they were still courting at the time. Side hugs only, baby. You know.
Maybe for the best in this weird case.
Jessa and Ben famously did not kiss each other in front of their own wedding guests when they tied the knot in November 2014, either.
They opted to share their first kiss in private.
A little modesty? What a novel concept. Somewhat surprising that they require chaperoned dates but are all about absurd post-marital PDA.
But anyway … back to the subject at hand:
Harmless as this gesture is, and regardless of whether Derick is paying homage to Josh, who the heck does that at someone else’s wedding?!
Something in the water down in Tontitown …