The Duggars have a reputation for being pretty honest, godly people — but that doesn’t mean they’re strangers to controversy. In fact, they’re actually surrounded by it, whether it’s conspiracy theories speculating about a “disowned” daughter, inappropriate requests for money from their fans, or “training” their kids to do household chores at the young age of two. And though Derick Dillard isn’t a Duggar himself, he married into the family — and is just as prone to finding himself in hot water. Most of the time, that comes from rubbing fans the wrong way on his Twitter or Instagram. He seemingly just can’t keep his mouth shut — or his fingers off the keyboard.

Like how Derick Dillard slammed ‘Nate & Jeremiah by Design’ stars.

In the wee hours of April 27, 2018, the TLC alum took to his favorite platform to slam Nate Berkus and his husband, Jeremiah Brent, who star on Nate & Jeremiah by Design. “What a travesty of family,” he wrote on a promo for the home improvement show. “It’s sad how blatant the liberal agenda is, such that it both highlights and celebrates a lifestyle so degrading to children on public television as if it should be normal.” Ugh.

Once the responses started coming in, Derick tried (and failed) to defend himself. “I’m not bashing the people, I’m just calling out the public agenda at play and how a network chooses what they highlight,” he argued. “Christians should love all as Christ loved all. Take advantage of capitalism: boycott what you don’t believe in, but don’t boycott relationships.”

derick dillard twitter

And how he keeps going after Jazz Jennings.

We’re not sure how many people were actually surprised that he doesn’t support transgender people (his and the Duggars’ faith has always been, uh, “conservative” at best). But people were surprised that he was so willing to go after his own network… for the first time, anyway. Does he not want that TLC check? Does he not remember how the Duggar family was briefly reduced to asking their fans for donations after 19 Kids and Counting was canceled?

derick dillard twitter

He tried to retract the statement a bit after fans got mad — but he only did even more damage. “I want to be clear. I have nothing against him,” he wrote, further misgendering Jazz, who, just to be clear, is a girl whether she’s transgender or cisgender. “I only have issue (sic) with the words and definitions being propagated here.”

On Nov. 12, it was revealed that Derick was fired from Counting On as a result of his comments, and then his wife’s cousin, Amy Duggar, said fans should be “compassionate” towards him. She took to Twitter and wrote, “You might not agree with someone or their lifestyle but you SHOULD be compassionate and show God’s love regardless to everyone.” Yeah… not when this dude is literally bullying a young girl online. Maybe he should have shown more compassion towards her? #JustSayin’

Months later, he still hasn’t stopped. After inviting LGBTQ community members to attend his church, some fans responded that people might not feel welcome. When they pointed out his deliberate and consistent misgendering of the trans teen, calling it cruel, all he had to say is that, actually, he was the only kind one out there. Instead of hearing others out, even as they used the language of faith and religion to try to communicate effectively, his response was to call Jazz delusional and imply that she’s mentally ill. Yep, we’re sure that will go over even better than last time.

derick dillard jazz jennings

And he’s turned on TLC now, too.

In addition to calling them out for giving Jazz a platform or ~feeding into her delusions~ or whatever, he’s also not happy with the channel when it comes to Counting On. Clearly, the former star and TLC aren’t on good terms, but now he’s claiming that, actually, they never even paid him to appear on their show. According to him, he and Jill Duggar were just glorified “volunteers” who never saw a dime. Not only that, he also complained that the company never paid for his son’s hospital bills — which, uh, why would they? Sure, it would be nice to have your employer foot the bill, but it’s also straight up not their responsibility. Though he’s since deleted the tweets (maybe because he realized accusations like that weren’t going to stand), we’ve got the proof.

Then there’s the time he ran his mouth about the Parkland shooting victims.

After the horrible school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, tons of students came forward to advocate for and demand stricter gun control laws. They’ve made their voices heard on social media, in interviews, and in a CNN Town Hall where they spoke with Florida Senator Marco Rubio, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, and more. But Derick, who it would seem disagrees with their method of curbing gun violence, decided that Parkland shooting victims weren’t actually speaking up of their own volition, but rather being “used” by the media.

derick dillard parkland

And then he took it even a step farther after fans called him out. “Doesn’t your family use children to push your conservative agenda as well?” wrote one. “So are you saying it’s okay for your children to sit in a classroom with the increasing risk of a school shooting? Oh wait, y’all ‘homeschool’, so you don’t care what students face. These young adults have more experience & knowledge than you have in your pinky,” added another. That’s when the Duggar in-law fired back.

derick dillard controversy

“My heart goes out to the victims, but how does being a victim of a tragedy suddenly make you an expert on how to solve the problem of stopping mass shootings?!” he wrote. Now, we’re not necessarily policy experts either, but we will say that being personally affected by gun violence and that kind of tragedy likely puts someone in a uniquely capable position to speak up for change. Are the only people we trust to speak up those who aren’t actually affected? Derick has every right to voice an alternate opinion — but dismissing those of the Parkland shooting victims as liberal media bias is no less than condescending and simply inappropriate as fans pointed out.

Or when he begged fans for money.

Derick and the rest of the Duggars have long relied on their fans’ donations, especially for their ministry work. In August, they asked for money again, even though they’d just shut down Dillard Family Ministries a few weeks before — which they’d also used to ask fans for their hard-earned cash. All the requests for dollars even prompted one fan to ask, “Get a job yet?” Derick couldn’t seem to stop himself from responding.

derick dillard job

He’s apparently been working his whole adult life (which, BTW, we’d just like to point out is pretty much the norm and not necessarily some grand accomplishment). But given the fact that he’s working as a missionary now — and has been accused of misusing missionary funds in the past, in addition to having to issue refunds of missionary donations, we have a little trouble believing his shtick. After all, if you need to crowdfund the money it takes for you to actually do your job, it doesn’t really sound like you’re full-time employed.

And that time he took it upon himself to bring up his followers’, uh, sexual habits.

Masturbating, that is. Apparently, according to Derick and an article he found important to share with fans, if you masturbate there’s simply no room left in your life to dedicate to God. Yep, exploring your own sexual pleasure pushes out everything else. And apparently, it also makes you a bad person who sexually objectifies those around you.

derick dillard twitter

Honestly, we think this is advice we just never needed to hear. It’s certainly no shock that they prefer to, well, abstain — but considering the fact that the Duggar women are encouraged to be sexually available to their husbands’ every whim, their fans just don’t seem to need to hear them weigh in on this subject.

Oh, and let’s not forget when he tried to shame feminists.

Derick retweeted a post basically telling women what they should be fighting for, which, uh, no thanks. Pretty sure he’s not the boss of all things women’s rights.

derick dillard feminism

But worst of all was that infamous cat video.

This one happened all the way back in 2015, but we’ll never forget it. In a video posted to his Instagram and shared on Twitter, Derick went sledding with the rest of the Duggar family. Only he didn’t just slide down the hill on a cookie sheet to have some jolly holiday fun. Nope, instead he aimed his makeshift sled right at a cat just hanging out on the hillside.

View this post on Instagram

Sledding with friends and family at the Duggar home 🙂 #smallestsled

A post shared by Derick Dillard (@derickdillard) on

Yep, he tried to run over a cat. The cat managed to escape — but everyone laughing about it makes us kind of sick to our stomachs. The fact that the reality show star did this at all is terrible. But what’s worse is that he thought nothing of sharing it on social media. Um, you could’ve killed a cat, Derick. It’s not really a laughing matter. Afterward, his family had the gall to try to defend him. “He didn’t hit the cat,” Jessa said in a radio interview. “The cat is fine.” Not for a lack of trying, though.

Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.