Gil Bates: Bringing Up Bates Dad Accused of Covering Up Sex Crimes

Last week, we reported Institute for Basic Life Principles founder Bill Gothard is being sued by five former employees who claim they were sexually harassed by Gothard during their time with the IBLP.

Gothard is best known to the public as a friend and mentor of the Duggar family. Now, another close Duggar associate is being implicated in the scandal:

According to Radar Online, Bringing Up Bates star Gil Bates is also being sued for allegedly helping to cover up the abuse.

Bates is reportedly one of six defendants to be named in the suit for assisting Gothard with his systematic abuse of dozens of female employees over the course of several decades.

Like Gothard, Bates is best known as a longtime friend of Jim Bob Duggar and a famous follower of the controversial Quiverfull movement that’s espoused by the Duggar clan.

Like Jim Bob, Gil Bates is both the patriarch of a family of 19 and the star of a basic cable reality show. The Bates family’s Bringing Up Bates currently airs on UP TV.

In recent months, it’s been rumored that Gil’s son Lawson Bates is “courting” Jinger Duggar – Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 21-year-old daughter.

The Duggar family has yet to respond to the accusations against Bates.

Though they are not directly involved in Bates’ alleged wrongdoing, it’s certainly an unwelcome situation for a family that’s been repeatedly rocked by scandal this year.

View Slideshow: 23 Biggest Duggar Family Scandals: How Low Can They Go?!

Bill Cosby Had Son Killed to Hide Sex Crimes, Scandalous New Book Claims

Over the past year, Bill Cosby has gone from one of the most beloved and respected stars in the history of television to a publicly reviled sexual predator, accused of victimizing more than 50 women over the course of his career.

According to recent reports Cosby might finally face rape charges, even though it initially looked as though he would be protected from prosecution due to the fact that each alleged incident fell outside of the statute of limitations.

Now, a new allegation is surfacing that could have Cosby answering for a crime even more serious than the many vile acts of which he’s already been accused.

Fans of the legendary comic may have forgotten that infidelity accusations about Cosby have been circulating for decades, and a woman named Autumn Jackson claimed in 1997 that she was Cosby’s illegitimate child.

Cosby eventually admitted to having an affair with Jackson’s mother, Shawn Thompson Upshaw, but insisted that he is not her father. Upshaw claims Jackson was conceived when Cosby drugged and raped her in 1974. 

A paternity test was never performed, but Cosby bought Jackson a car, paid for her college tuition and maintained contact with her throughout her adolescence.

Their relationship soured when Jackson went public with claims that Cosby was her father, and she was eventually arrested for extortion.

Now, The National Enquirer reports that Jackson’s aunt, Jewel Star, has written a book entitled Bill Cosby’s Love Child that she’s currently shopping to publishers.

The book makes the shocking claim that Cosby orchestrated the murder of his son Ennis as part of his attempt to bury the allegations made by Upshaw. 

Jackson was arrested just two days after Ennis was murdered by a Ukrainian immigrant with no ties to the 27-year-old.

In the book, Star quotes Jackson as saying, “Cosby might have had Ennis murdered because he had found out about me.”

Star says she believes that Cosby sent “a hitman” to murder her as well, but settled for simply having her arrested and imprisoned.

Obviously, the claims made by Star and Jackson are wild and seem rather far-fetched, but then again, there was a time when it would have been very difficult to believe that Bill Cosby could possibly be guilty of sexually assaulting more than 50 women.