The fallout from Candace Cameron Bure‘s comments is coming home for Christmas!
In case you somehow missed the controversy, the Full House alum was talking last month about having left Hallmark to become a star and “creative officer” at the Great American Family network. She danced around it but eventually got across her message. She was going to be happier at GAF because unlike Hallmark lately, it would “keep traditional marriage at the core.”
Yeah. We know what that means. None of that icky LGBT-friendly stuff. Because having two dudes fall in love in a wintry small town setting isn’t “keeping the Christ in Christmas,” as some would say. Blugh.
Related: Candace & Jodie Sweetin In ‘Pretty Serious’ Dispute Amid Anti-LGBT Controversy!
Many understood all too well what Candace was trying to say. One of those was Neal Bledsoe, a fellow staple of the popular Christmas rom com subgenre. After starring in two such flicks this year, The Winter Palace and Christmas at the Drive-In, the affable actor announced he was leaving the network over Cameron Bure’s comments, explaining in a lengthy statement last week why he was not doing promo for his new movie with the GAF:
“The recent comments made by leadership at Great American Family are hurtful, wrong, and reflect an ideology that prioritizes judgment over love. I was raised as a Christian, and believe in the essential message of love and forgiveness. That said, I could never forgive myself for continuing my relationship with a network that actively chooses to exclude the LGBTQIA+ community.”
He added:
“The thought that my work could be used to deliberately discriminate against anyone horrifies and infuriates me. I hope GAF will change, but until everyone can be represented in their films with pride, my choice is clear.”
It’s a great statement. You can check out the full text HERE.
A week later, and Danica McKellar is out here promoting the latest flicks all by herself. This marks the end of an onscreen relationship that spanned three Christmas romances — Bledsoe played her love interest in The Winter Palace, Christmas at the Drive-In, and the 2017 Hallmark movie Coming Home for Christmas. She says she supports the LGBTQ community, too. She posted a couple weeks back that she was “a new Christian” but she still supported “all forms of healthy love between adults”:
“The idea that Christianity would judge any form of love simply baffles me. I’m still new to my faith journey, but as far as I can tell, Jesus loves and includes everyone. That’s kind of His thing…
She also mentioned that she has a gay friend. So she talks the talk. But unlike her movie beau, she isn’t ready to walk off and follow her principles off the network.
While speaking to Fox News Digital on Monday about the fact her co-star wasn’t promoting with her because he’d cut off his support for Great American Family, she responded:
“Neal is a wonderful person. He’s such a great actor and I have enjoyed working with him so much. He and I both share our love and support of the LGBT community for sure.”
But?
“I don’t agree with his interpretation of her comments. I just didn’t see them the same way.”
Huh? Does she think he’s pulling the interpretation out of his butt? That we all are?? The Wonder Years alum explained:
“[Candace] started the sentence with ‘I think,’ which is not definitive, and she ended it with ‘at its core,’ which doesn’t mean exclusively. I don’t agree with his interpretation, but I love him to death and I wish him well.”
Oof. She wishes him well? This really was a breakup!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuRji3_XCCQ
Look, we know Danica is a brilliant woman. But all her mathematician skills aren’t exactly serving her right now. Math doesn’t have shades of gray, it has exact equations. And while TV’s DJ didn’t technically, explicitly say she doesn’t think her network should have gay content, she didn’t have to. The public faces of hate always keep their plausible deniability with politesse. They don’t want to look like they’re being hateful. They talk about “what god intended”, about “respecting tradition”, about “valuing the family unit.”
But at this point the LGBTQ community has gotten pretty good at reading between the lines and hearing the dog whistles. They have to — it’s a matter of self-preservation. Because the folks that talk about protecting the “traditional family” are in the same pews with the folks firebombing donut shops that hold drag shows. People like Danica have the luxury of making logical distinctions between the expressions of hate. No one is going to attack her on the street for holding hands with her husband.
Or maybe we’re wrong. Maybe she just looked at the number of upcoming movies she could film with GAF and did a different math.
Either way, we’re pretty disappointed in Danica here. Ironically, it’s clear she doesn’t GAF as much as her co-star. What do YOU think of her latest statement??
[Image via Great American Family Network/TBN/YouTube.]
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