Jesse Tyler Ferguson has laughed off
claims that Modern Family's positive portrayal of gay families
is “poisoning” America.
Ferguson, who plays Mitchell on the ABC
Wednesday night comedy, and Eric Stonestreet, who plays Cameron, are
one of the three couples featured on the sitcom. On the show, the
two men are in a committed relationship and raising their adopted
daughter Lily.
Bryan Fischer of the Christian
conservative American Family Association (AFA) criticized the popular
show's portrayal of the gay couple.
“What's illustrated there is the way
that the media influences the way that people think about life,”
Fischer
said. “The portrait there that's being presented is designed
to make you think that same-sex households are wonderful, they're
loving, this is paradise, this is the optimum nurturing environment
for children; to make you think that heterosexual marriage is
bondage, it's dreary, it's gloomy, and we know that the social
research indicates exactly the opposite.”
“You know, that's the danger. It's
just like getting a little bit of poison over a long period of time,
eventually getting enough accumulation in there where it can be kind
of lethal to the organism. And I think that's what you're seeing
with a lot of this programming. It has to do with kind of the basic
view of morality and marriage and life and family that people have.
It's very corrosive; people are just watching TV to be entertained,
not realizing that their view of life is being twisted in a way
that's very harmful to them and harmful to our culture.”
During an appearance on HuffPost Live,
Ferguson, who is openly gay, chuckled when asked to respond to the
claims.
“Really, hilariously ridiculous,”
Ferguson said in response. “You have to allow it to roll off your
back. As my favorite drag queen Jinkx Monsoon says, 'Water off a
duck's back,' I try not to get too worked up about those things.”
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