Jesse Tyler Ferguson says ‘the gays were furious’ about this particular Modern Family storyline
Jesse Tyler Ferguson has spoken out about criticism of his Modern Family character. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson has spoken out about criticism of his Modern Family character. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson has discussed a time when “the gays were furious” with one of his storylines on Modern Family.
In the hit comedy series, which ran for 11 seasons, Ferguson played Mitchell Pritchett and was partnered with Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet). The two adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) in the pilot episode.
Ferguson has discussed Modern Family, as well as the responsibility in playing an out gay character as an out gay actor, numerous times. Last month, Ferguson touched on the response to the show on his podcast Dinner’s On Me. He then said, “the criticism that I think I heard the loudest was always from the gay community.”
He’s revisited the topic again on the podcast’s most recent episode, in which he dines with Oscar-winner Riz Ahmed. Recognising he was “lucky to be part of a pop culture touchstone,” that was linked to the fight for gay marriage in the United States, Ferguson said it was “tricky” to please gay audiences, expressing a desire “to do it with nuance and levels and layers and also poignancy.”
The Modern Family star also discussed struggling with audiences wanting to see polished gay characters, whilst being drawn to Mitchell’s flaws. He then raised one instance where “the gays were furious.”
This happened in response to a storyline where Mitchell is reluctant to kiss Cameron in public. People were quick to get outraged at the lack of intimacy, spawning a campaign to change that. This then led to the writers penning “The Kiss,” which explained why Mitchell was not a fan of PDA.
On his podcast Ferguson lamented fans not considering why Mitchell was uncomfortable. “It’s because of his past, it’s because of his history. It’s because of the trauma he had as a kid growing up, being gay and being teased by his sister.” He went on, “It’s like all these things that made the story interesting and made it last for 11 years are the things that I was also being criticised for,” he said.
Ultimately Ferguson concluded “there was no way to please” everyone.
A poll run by Hollywood Reporter in 2012 found that 27% of people said gay TV shows such as Modern Family made them more pro-gay marriage, a notable increase from previous polls.
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