Yahoo Movies Neal Bledsoe leaves Candace Cameron Bure's Great American Family over 'hurtful, wrong' LGBT exclusion
Neal Bledsoe, star of two Great American Family holiday movies, has announced intentions to step away from the network following LGBTQIA-exclusionary comments made by actress Candace Cameron Bure, who also serves as a creative officer at GAF.
The Winter Palace and Christmas at the Drive-In actor credited LGBTQIA+ people for mentoring him throughout his career as well as providing emotional support in his personal life, and pledged to "stand up for that community" in a lengthy statement.
"I want to be very clear: my support for the LGBTQIA+ community is unconditional — nothing is worth my silence or their ability to live and love freely in a world that we are lucky enough to share with them," Bledsoe wrote Tuesday on his Instagram Story. "I cannot take comfort from, nor will I give refuge to, those who excuse exclusion and promote division in any way, shape, or form. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, and these are mine: 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."
Bure faced backlash following a recent Wall Street Journal profile, in which she and GAF executive Bill Abbott indicated that the network would likely not create content focusing on queer love stories like Hallmark, the network Bure left for her position at GAF, has. "I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core," Bure said. Abbott added that "spiritual or faith-based content is grossly underserved."
Bettina Strauss/CBS via Getty Images; Everett Collection Neal Bledsoe leaves Great American Family over Candace Cameron Bure LGBTQIA+ exclusion controversy.
Bledsoe continued, noting that he "vehemently disagreed" with such exclusionary positions.
"This is about someone in an executive position speaking about deliberate exclusion on behalf of an entire network. This is why the phrase 'traditional marriage' is as odious as it is baffling. Not simply wrong in its morality, it's also a moot point, when you consider that most romantic movies don't feature married couples at all, nor even weddings, but simply people meeting and falling in love," he wrote. "To describe that love and the full human representation of the LGBTQIA+ community as a 'trend' is also both troubling and confusing. When institutions such as the Mormon Church support marriage equality, and join the vast majority of Americans who already believe in the fundamental right to love who and how we please — and when that right is about to be codified into the law of the land — one has to ask not what are the trends, but whether any organization that stands against such love would be trending toward the dustbin of history?"
He finished: "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. I look forward to working with creators who put no limits on the stories we tell and follow through on their message of values with open arms."
EW has reached out to Bure and Great American Family for a response to Bledsoe's statement.
Everett Collection (2) Candace Cameron Bure says new GAF Christmas movies won't include gay stories.
After drawing both audience and industry ire, Bure released a statement attempting to clarify her stance on the issue.
"All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people. It absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone. It saddens me that the media is often seeking to divide us, even around a subject as comforting and merry as Christmas movies. But, given the toxic climate in our culture right now, I shouldn't be surprised. We need Christmas more than ever," the former Full House actress said in a statement to EW, which also criticized the media "for using this opportunity to fan flames of conflict and hate," before expressing a "simple message" to them: "I love you anyway," she said.
After Bure's initial comments, actress Hilarie Burton called Bure and Abbott "disgusting", while queer entertainer JoJo Siwa — who previously indicated that Bure was the rudest celebrity she'd ever met — also spoke out against Bure's statement.
"Honestly, I can't believe after everything that went down just a few months ago, that she would not only create a movie with the intention of excluding LGBTQIA+, but then also talk about it in the press," Siwa wrote on Instagram. "This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people."
Bure's Full House collaborator Jodie Sweetin also commented on Siwa's post, expressing love for her while sharing LGBTQ resources in her Instagram Story.
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