Derick Dillard is shutting down rumors that his sister-in-law Jana Duggar is dating family friend Laura DeMasie.
Fans have been speculating that the notoriously single Duggar family member may not be seeking a courtship as actively as her brothers and sisters because she is in a relationship with the 33-year-old Arkansas woman.
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It’s not clear where this rumor came from, and the evidence for their relationship to be anything but platonic is tenuous at best. However, based on her family’s negative attitude about the LGBT community, if Jana were dating another woman, it might be presumed she would keep it on the down low.
Regardless, fans took to Twitter to ask her brother-in-law about the rumor. Dillard is married to Jana’s sister Jill, and is one of the few Duggar adjacent family members with an active Twitter account.
“[Derick], is Jana dating her friend Lauren. There are tons of rumors flying. Set the record straight,” one fan tweeted at him Tuesday, to which he replied simply, “Uh no.”
Uh no
— Derick Dillard (@derickmdillard) September 18, 2018
But the response wasn’t convincing to everyone.
“Jana and Laura wouldn’t let it be known if they were dating, have you seen how homophobic their families are?” one fan wrote in response to his denial.
Jana and Laura wouldn’t let it be known if they were dating, have you seen how homophobic their families are?
— Ells ⭐ (@justabrunchslut) September 19, 2018
Another added, “derick you should have put just ‘no’. the ‘uh’ implies you don’t know [laughing out loud], so this is not confirmation for the masses.”
derick you should have put just ‘no’ . the ‘uh’ implies you dont know lol, so this is not confirmation for the masses
— loena frass (@loena_frass) September 19, 2018
Dillard himself has a past of not being accepting of LGBT people, which ended up being the reason for his exit from Counting On.
In November, he railed against transgender teen Jazz Jennings, who appears in TLC’s I Am Jazz, misgendering her and accusing people of taking advantage of her to promote an agenda.
He had made comments about Jennings in the past, but November’s tweet was the final straw for TLC, which announced soon after that he had been fired from the series.
Despite insisting he was not fired, Dillard has continued to be criticized by fans for being homophobic and transphobic for his tweets against Jennings and other LGBT people.
So it seems like if Jana was dating another woman, he would be low on the list of people to tell.
Counting On airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.
Photo credit: TLC
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