entertainment

Mama June says her family is returning to reality TV "very soon".

Who cares about child abuse when there’s money to be made?

Arguably one of the most upsetting things to come out of Toddlers and Tiaras — itself extremely distressing — was Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, featuring Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her family.

Alana was six years old when the show began, and nine when it was unceremoniously cancelled by its network TLC after reports surfaced that her mother, June “Mama June” Shannon was dating a convicted child molestor who had recently been released after a 10-year stint in prison.

Even more horrifyingly, the child the man in question, Mark McDaniel, had molested was Shannon’s own eldest daughter Anna Marie “Chickadee” Cardwell, who was eight at the time.

June “Mama June” Shannon. Image via Instagram.

Although Shannon denied that she was seeing McDaniel (despite photographs being published of them together), TLC pulled the program in October 2014 and didn’t air the remaining six months worth of new episodes.

Now, June Shannon is claiming that a version of the show is returning to TV.

She posted the information to Honey Boo Boo’s Facebook page in a rambling and sometimes nonsensical comment that daringly eschewed all punctuation.

Ok for everyone it was asked if we are going to be back on TV the answer is yes and it will be very soon it will not be was TLC network but it will be announced as we were told with People on Tuesday I will be able to get out more details soon but we are excited as it will air starting in December but it will not be here comes honey boo boo kind of thing but it will be reality TV and it will be real and unscripted like we have always ever been that’s only kind of TV we believe in and we want you all to see the true side of all of us hope everyone had a great Halloween and don’t forget to turn your clock back ‪#‎realitytv‬ ‪#‎awesometime‬ ‪#‎awesomefans‬ and we want to say thanks to our fans that have stuck by us and continue to support us through the thick and thin we love you all and we appreciate each and every one of yall.

Most comments were positive and employed the word “y’all” quite a lot, but a few questioned how any network could overlook the fact that June Shannon was seeing the man who served a long prison sentence for molesting her little girl.

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“Will your child molesting boyfriend be on the show as well? How does your oldest daughter (the one he spent time in prison for molesting) feel about this?”

“You are really a disgraceful human being. One day when all of your children are grown and will know what you are doing is wrong, you will regret it every bit. I just hope that sick man your with doesn’t molest your youngest daughter or hurt any other child while you condone it.”

It’s clear, though, that there’s still a huge audience for the show, an audience that’s willing to ignore the fact that Shannon has clearly endangered her children and is continuing to exploit them by letting their lives be filmed.

Watch Anna Marie Cardwell discussing her mother’s attitude towards her abuser… Post continues after video.

Does allowing Shannon to return to TV screens makes the network and the viewers complicit in diminishing the crime that was committed against Cardwell by allowing her mother to have a platform?

As Honey Boo Boo herself would say, “a dollar makes me holler”.

Do you think the family should be back on our screens?