Yesterday, HGTV announced via their Facebook page that the pilot for Flip it Forward—a show following a set of twins who help families turn rundown houses into dream homes—would not go on as scheduled. The statement was terse, saying only the following:
“HGTV has decided not to move forward with the Benham Brothers’ series.”
The reason behind the cancelation before the show even had a chance to run? The brothers, David and Jason Benham, are outspoken Evangelical Christians who have gone on the record with some pretty unpopular views. Among them, they have gone on record preaching against homosexuality, abortion, and even divorce; David once railed against “homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation.”
HGTV’s response, then, seems proportional. While they can’t tell the Benhams what to think, they also don’t have to give them their own show.
The twins issued a statement of their own today, saying of the choice to cancel the show:
“As Christians we are called to love our fellow man. Anyone who suggests that we hate homosexuals or people of other faiths is either misinformed or lying…
While you could certainly say that saying homosexuality is “attacking the nation” could be construed as “hate,” we’re not going down that road. Instead, we’ll just say that HGTV has probably saved themselves a ton of headaches by letting these brothers go.
[via EW]
