Jill Duggar’s Cousin Slams Derick Dillard for Homophobic Comments

Derick Dillard is in hot water again following homophobic comments he made in a tweet, but this time he’s facing criticism from family.

After Dillard called the family at the front of TLC’s new series Nate and Jeremiah By Design a “travesty” and stated their lifestyle as parents and members of the LGBT community is “degrading to children,” John Andrew Studdard, Jill (Duggar) Dillard’s distant cousin, is speaking out.

“I’m sick of hearing his homophobic cries for publicity,” Studdard told Radar Online, adding that he believes Dillard’s controversial comments to be “embarrassing” and “offensive.”

“Derick needs to keep his mouth shut,” Studdard continued. “We don’t have to agree with someone’s life, but don’t speak out publicly when you know you’re already disliked by half of America. As a public figure, he should stop being so harsh.”

Studdard, who has not seen the former Counting On couple since their marriage in 2014, says that he believes “love is everywhere. Everyone should just be happy!”

Dillard faced swift criticism after he slammed the couple at the front of TLC’s new series, which follows Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent as they juggle married life and raising their daughter, Poppy, all while helping distressed homeowners renovate their homes.

The tweet was so controversial that it even sparked a heated segment on ABC’s The View during which time hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, and Megan McCain slammed the former Counting On cast member.

You should just stop man. Just stop,” Goldberg told Dillard during his appearance. “You don’t have to agree with anybody’s lifestyle, but you don’t live in their house just like we don’t live in a house where there are 900 kids and that’s what you guys are celebrating on your show.”

Dillard responded by asking his followers on Twitter whether the hosts should be “our standard and champion for open-mindedness?”

Dillard has a long history of controversial tweets, and was fired from Counting On last year after making transphobic comments about I Am Jazz cast member Jazz Jennings.

“We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future,” the network said in a November statement. “We want to reiterate that Derick’s personal statements do not reflect the views of the network. TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so.”

In his controversial tweets, Dillard had claimed that the I Am Jazz cast member was not mentally developed enough to come out as transgender and that she was being used as propaganda by TLC and her parents.