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Report: TLC cancels ‘Honey Boo Boo’

Posted at 11:43 AM, Oct 24, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-24 11:43:55-04

 (CNN) — TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is reportedly ending its run.

TMZ says TLC has canceled the series in light of claims that the program’s newly separated matriarch, June “Mama June” Shannon, is dating Mark Anthony McDaniel, a man who served 10 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated child molestation in 2004 and who is a registered sex offender.

Shannon denied those claims in a statement posted to the personal Facebook page of daughter Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson.

“I want to make a post trying to clear up the rumors,” Shannon began. “(R)emember you can’t believe everything you read! (People) sell stories to the tabloid everyday that r false! It isnt true i promise my kids r #1 priority over anything else and I would never put them in danger period over this or anything else they r my life this is my past I left him 10 yrs ago for it and I wouldn’t go back.”

On Thursday, some outlets reported that the show’s future was in jeopardy because of Shannon’s alleged relationship with McDaniel. According to TMZ, McDaniel and Shannon have dated in the past.

TLC said in a statement that it was rethinking what was to come for “Honey Boo Boo.”

“TLC is not currently in production on ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,’ ” the statement reads. “We are very concerned about this new information and are reassessing the future of the series.”

The network began “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” in August 2012 as a spinoff of its child pageant reality show, “Toddlers & Tiaras.” Alana Thompson was one of “Tiaras’ ” breakout stars, and “Honey Boo Boo” was launched to follow the spunky kid and her family at their Georgia home.

The series, which also starred Alana Thompson’s three older sisters and her dad, Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, averaged 2.4 million viewers an episode in its first season, establishing itself as a reality TV hit. The show’s fourth season wrapped up in August with 1.8 million viewers.

Rumors about the show’s future began in September, after Shannon’s separation from partner “Sugar Bear” Thompson.