When controversy abounds, Reddit typically goes digging. That’s exactly what happened recently after Josh Duggar was arrested on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Duggar had previously been in the news after a report came to light noting he had molested some of his sisters as a young man. Now, people are looking back at an old comment Duggar had made on Ben Seewald’s social media.
The Internet is forever, and a Redditor recently dug through some Facebook posts related to Josh Duggar’s sister, Jessa Duggar Seewald. Back in 2013, her partner Ben had an innocuous post focusing on the two. On the Facebook post, which focuses on a look at the two while they were courting prior to marriage, Josh Duggar posted in the comments, including some eyeball emojis along with the words “I’m watching you.” You can see the post from back in the day, below.
It's worth noting the comment was made prior to the molestation report reveal in 2015 in which Josh Duggar was listed as having molested several of his siblings, including Jessa. The post also came when Jessa and Ben were courting prior to their 2014 marriage. If you’re familiar with the Counting On and 19 Kids and Counting clan, you probably are aware that there are strict rules regarding courtship prior to a Duggar getting married. It seems Josh Duggar may have been taking a bit of a note from Duggar patriarch Jim Bob when he made the comment, however, now that it’s running around again, people had some takes.
One Redditor replied to Josh’s comment about watching his sister, noting, ‘and the FBI is watching you Josh lol.” Another was a little more on the defensive, noting we probably would not have looked twice at this comment if it hadn’t resurfaced, saying, ‘I think he was trying to be all “relatable big brother” but because of who he is and what we now know it comes off creepy.’ Another person seemingly disagreed, noting, “no, it's still paternalistic and gross either way.”
This is not the only time old comments from Josh Duggar have rolled around the Internet. Back when 19 Kids and Counting was still filming, the eldest Duggar son once made a joke about his family being from Arkansas. The gist was that families from Arkansas sometimes engage in incest, which obviously took on a different context after the molestation reports were revealed.
Ultimately, it’s unclear what Jessa and Ben Seewald’s current relationship is with Josh Duggar. Jessa in the past had tried to take back the narrative surrounding the molestation report, even famously being interviewed by Megyn Kelly after the news first dropped and saying Josh had “made some bad choices.” She is involved in an ongoing lawsuit related to the release of the report as well. When Duggar was more recently arrested, Jessa and Ben Seewald did make a statement regarding what happened, which read:
We are saddened to hear of the charges against Josh. As Christians, we stand against any form of pornography or abuse and we desire for the truth to be exposed, whatever that may be. Our prayers are with their family as they walk through this difficult time.
Meanwhile, Josh Duggar has been released on bail to a third party property following his initial arrest. His case is expected to be moving forward in the court system in early July. We’ll keep you updated if any more details related to the case break.
