Candace Cameron Bure has caused quite a stir this holiday season with her comments about keeping “traditional marriage” at the core of the programming at Great American Family. A number of celebrities fired back at the network’s chief creative officer — who was among several celebrities to jump ship from Hallmark and join GAF — calling Bure out for intentionally excluding LGBTQ+ relationships and saying she is a “bigot.” Amidst all the blowback, GAF actor Neal Bledsoe said he was severing his relationship with the network, and his Christmas at the Drive-In co-star Danica McKellar has shared her opinion on his decision.
Danica McKellar also spoke out in the aftermath of Candace Cameron Bure’s comments, saying she wanted to “set the record straight” regarding her own views on LGBTQ+ representation and where that fit into her faith. However, in regards to her GAF Christmas movie co-star, McKellar told Fox News Digital:
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… I don't agree with his interpretation of her comments. I just didn't see them the same way.
In Neal Bledsoe’s emotional statement, he said he took issue with the comments made by Great American Family’s “leadership,” which seemingly included both Candace Cameron Bure and GAF CEO Bill Abbott, who said in regards to inclusive content that the network is “aware of the trends.” Bledsoe said he couldn’t continue a relationship with “someone in an executive position speaking about deliberate exclusion on behalf of an entire network.”
However, Danica McKellar found more leniency in Candace Cameron Bure’s statement to the Wall Street Journal, in which she said, “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core.” McKellar explained:
[Bure] 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.
While Danica McKellar indicated that she didn’t find Candace Cameron Bure’s statement as definitive as her Christmas at the Drive-In co-star did, Neal Bledsoe wasn’t alone in how he interpreted Bure’s words. GLAAD called her comment “irresponsible and hurtful,” arguing that she was using tradition as a guise for exclusion. The situation also may have caused some friction between the Full House actress and her TV sister Jodie Sweetin, as Bure reportedly unfollowed the Stephanie Tanner portrayer on Instagram after she publicly disagreed with the “traditional marriage” comment.
Candace Cameron Bure hasn’t been without her defenders, though. Hallmark actor Paul Greene seemed to agree with Danica McKellar, as he said her critics “left out important parts of what she said” to the Wall Street Journal. Bure’s fellow Great American Family star Trevor Donovan opined that people are entitled to their own beliefs, and through mutual respect and acceptance, “coexistence is possible.”
See where you can catch your favorite holiday movie actors this season with our 2022 Christmas Movie Schedule.
