OWN Will No Longer Air That Show About a Man With 34 Kids

OWN is trashing a series it was supposed to air about a man with 34 kids.

Jay Williams, a music producer who fathered 34 children with 17 women, was originally featured on Iyanla’s Fix My Life in September 2014. In the episode, Iyanla Vanzant went so far as to have Williams hold 14 dolls during their session so he could “feel the weight” of his situation. She also asked him why he hadn’t considered a vasectomy and said, “At any point did it dawn on you, ‘This is too much?’”

Williams said, “I’d probably have 200 kids if I didn’t use condoms.”

The OWN docuseries about his life, which was set for a September premiere, is now officially off the programming schedule. Here’s the network’s statement, via The Hollywood Reporter:

“OWN has decided not to move forward with the Jay Williams docuseries. The series aimed to follow Jay as he worked to put his life and fractured relationships in order and to hold him accountable every step of the way. The intention was to help Jay work to establish new connections with his family, his children and the mothers of his children. Production has ended and the series will not air.”

Could this have anything to do with the backlash against 19 Kids and Counting? Williams’ show had a wholly different premise, but maybe OWN wants to avoid any type of association or negative press, especially after all the criticism from the initial Fix My Life episode.