Hard to believe, but it’s been almost a full year since Derick Dillard was fired from Counting On.
Fans are mostly of the opinion that the show is better off without D-Dill, though that might have less to do with his camera presence and more to do with the reason he was axed from the show.
Back in November of 2017, Derick went on a transphobic tirade against fellow network star Jazz Jennings and was promptly kicked to the curb by his bosses at TLC.
It’s almost like corporations aren’t big on their employees harassing one another on social media. Weird.
Anyway, Derick’s wife, Jill Duggar, quit the show as a gesture of solidarity, and now the Dillard clan has no real ties to the show that made them famous.
For a while, it looked as though the Jill and Derick were hoping to be invited back to the show, but now it seems they’ve come to terms with the fact that that’s never gonna happen.
Derick is attending law school; Jill is working as a midwife (despite a lack of proper certification), and it looks like they’ll eventually be able to support their two children without much help from Jim Bob and Michelle.
Despite that, it seems Derick is still harboring some bitterness toward the network that both started ended his television career.
During a recent Twitter Q&A Der even went so far as to accuse TLC execs of interfering with his relationship with his in-laws.
“Do you not attend events they film if possible (like Lauren/Josiah’s tea party) or do they just edit around you?” one fan asked.
“TLC is probably not going to invite us if they don’t want us there,” Dillard replied.
Yes, Derick seems to be suggesting that it’s the network — not the Duggars themselves — who decide the guest list for their family events.
Obviously, this is his way of trash-talking not only TLC, but also his father-in-law.
Jim Bob has repeatedly claimed that despite the massive debt his family owes the network, he retains full autonomy on the Duggar compound.
Derick’s claim that it’s TLC who execs that decide who to invite to family functions pokes a major hole in that idea.
Of course, this is Derick’s M.O.
He throws a little bit of shade and — unless his target is someone as vulnerable as a teenage girl — he then turns tail and refuses to answer any follow-up questions.
Derick seems to live in a fantasy world of his own device, in which his famous father-in-law is an ineffectual nobody, and the decision to leave a cushy reality show gig was his and his alone.
“We were going in a different direction as a family and decided to stop doing filming,” Dillard once claimed in an interview.
“Thank you; we hope you are encouraged in some way by our journey, especially our reliance upon our savior, Jesus Christ.”
Mind you, we know for a fact that Derick was fired, but he’s so used to fans believing everything he says that he has no problem tossing out whatever BS pops into his head.
It’s an interesting and surprisingly effective strategy.
So clearly, the guy has learned a thing or two about public relations and cult mentality in his years as Jim Bob’s son-in-law.
