Here comes two pieces of sad Honey Boo Boo news. First, the ever-memorable Crazy Tony will no longer be appearing on the hit TLC reality show. And second, Alana’s beloved uncle and occasional choreographer is HIV positive.
TMZ broke the former news, reporting that Alana’s much-redneckognized mother, June Shannon, asked Crazy Tony to withdraw from the series permanently following a recent and more-crazy-than-usual public incident. Back in November, the fearless friend of the family was arrested whilst donning a gorilla suit. (He was trying to scare drivers on a highway, OK?!)
June, also known as Mama, tells TMZ, “We love [Crazy Tony] as a friend … but that was a crazy story.”
Tony seems as heartbroken about the kiss-off as fans will be to see the monkey business man go. In a separate interview with the gossip site, the man known as the Thompsons’/Shannon’s “cousin” notes that “TV’s changed that family.”
There’s no word on whether Tony will still keep in touch with the Thompsons/Shannons during their off-screen hours.
While Crazy Tony is gone for good, Uncle Poodle has gone public regarding his struggles with HIV. In a recent interview with the Fenuxe, a news outlet specifically targeting gay males, Lee Thompson notes that he was diagnosed with the disease last year.
“On March 16, 2012, I tested negative,” Thompson explains in the piece. “Then, in May of 2012 my test results came back positive. I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me. I later learned he had been HIV positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it.”
Since finding out the truth about his former boyfriend, Thompson “hesitantly” pressed charges against him. Now, his ex is serving a five-year sentence in jail, and Thompson is advising sexually active adults to wear proper protection and get tested regularly.
So says Thompson of those participating in unsafe sex, “They are playing Russian roulette. They are playing with their lives and that of their sexual partners.”
TLC is reairing the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Thanksgiving and Halloween episodes this Sunday, starting at 9 p.m. ET.
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