DailyMail: A reality series about a man who fathered 34 children with 17 different woman has been pulled by OWN. The show, set to air on Oprah Winfrey’s network in September, would have followed Atlanta music producer Jay Williams as he tried to reconnect with his offspring – aged between three and 27. But officials at the station said the show was cancelled on Friday – and did not give an explanation.
They released a statement saying: ‘OWN has decided not to move forward with the Jay Williams docu-series. ‘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.’
The Daily Mail Online has contacted OWN for comment.
Williams had previously featured in an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life, another of the channel’s hit shows, which sees spiritual life coach Iyanla Vanzant, trying to help different people all struggling with various aspects of their lives. During the interview in September, Williams held dolls standing in for his children in his lap, with a pile of them lying behind him.
‘So let me ask you this question, Jay,’ she says in the clip. ’34 children. At any point, did it dawn on you this is too much?‘ ‘No,’ Williams says. ‘So a child at 15, you never said “Let me use a condom?”‘ Vanzant asks. Williams replies ‘I did use condoms.’ Shocked, Vanzant leans in and asks ‘How many?’ ‘I probably would have had 200 kids if I didn’t use condoms,’ Williams admits. ‘Really?’ Vanzant asks, with Williams nodding. ‘Did it ever dawn on you, “Let me get a vasectomy?”‘ Williams says ‘No,’ and when pressed, simply says ‘I don’t want one.’ Gesturing toward the dolls, Vanzant insists ‘But look what you’ve created!’ He replies: ‘I don’t have a problem with what I’ve created.’
The straight-talking life coach also forced Jay to sit down with four of his children and explain to them why he had ‘dropped them’ and failed to live up to his responsibilities as a father. ‘I would like to confess that I absolutely did not love or care for myself at all,’ he explained to the group of four.
‘I have not honored your mothers as women the way that I should have. I would never say willingly, but I absolutely fell short on my responsibilities to you as a provider, at times. ‘And the biggest thing that I would like to confess is that I absolutely did not live up to be the true man that I am and the father that you really have. I am responsible for the reason why each and every one of you absolutely don’t know me.’
But despite Jay insisting that his sentiments were completely and utterly heart-felt, it seemed his sentiments came too little too late for some of his children. ‘I just want you to know that I really don’t care anymore,’ one of his daughters told him. ‘I’m just not buying it.’
Abandoned children…
DCG
