After four seasons of encouraging the entitled behavior of a Red Bull-and-Mountain Dew-fueled child, simultaneously celebrating and gawking at a family that makes games out of farting and huffing each other’s mouths, and generally wallowing in a slop trough of snot, mayonnaise, and exploitation, TLC may have at last found something about Honey Boo Boo that offends them.
Earlier today, a report surfaced on TMZ that family matriarch Mama June had rebounded from her recent split with Honey Boo Boo’s father, Sugar Bear, by dating Mark McDaniel—a man who more than makes up for his lack of a nickname with his equally cringe-inducing criminal past. Specifically, McDaniel just completed 10 years in prison for “forcing oral sex” on an 8-year-old child—a child who also happens to be a relative of June’s. And even for a channel that has otherwise gladly trafficked in all forms of disgusting behavior, quasi-incestuous child molestation may be where TLC draws the line.
“TLC is not currently in production on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. We are very concerned about this new information and are reassessing the future of the series,” The Learning Channel said in a statement, noting the first time any sort of “learning” has taken place around that network in years. As Deadline reminds, the series, which just wrapped its fourth season, is already on a ratings decline to match its cultural one, with less than 2 million viewers tuning in this year to catch up on the family’s proudly redneck antics. Now the network just has to decide whether, at long last, “molestation of an 8-year-old relative” is the sort of redneck antic it simply can’t endorse.