David and Jason Benham told "Nightline" today that HGTV canceled their reality TV show, "Flip it Forward," set to premiere in October, after a liberal watchdog group published controversial comments David Benham had made publicly about abortion and gay marriage in years past.
"Our show had nothing to do with anything of the things that are now the controversy," David said. "But I also understand that HGTV when they called us and shut the show down, they said they had to make a business decision."
The Benhams, based in Concord, N.C., are entrepreneurs who have experience in buying houses on the cheap and renovating them, and then teaching others how to flip houses -- skills they said they planned to demonstrate in a competition-type reality show.
After the network announced the show last month, the lobbying group Right Wing Watch published reports alleging that David Benham was an outspoken anti-gay, anti-abortion "extremist."
The group posted reports on its website Tuesday and Wednesday this week, saying David Benham had led protests outside abortion clinics and led a prayer rally in 2012 to "stop homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation." Right Wing Watch claimed that David supported a North Carolina constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between a man and woman. The reports also said David was an anti-Muslim activist.
HGTV announced it was canceling the brothers' show on Wednesday.
David Benham acknowledged that his comments at the prayer rally had "got me in a bunch of trouble," but said Right Wing Watch's reports took his anti-abortion comments "out of context" and their statements about anti-Muslim comments were "just absolutely untrue."
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I didn't see one thing he did that he was not well within his rights to do. But because he spoke up about his beliefs they call him an extremist, and make other accusations against him, and caused him to lose his show. Again, this mess is getting out of hand. Who's watching the "right wing watch" and where do they get the right to determine who is and isn't an extremist?