JoJo Siwa is sounding off on Candace Cameron Bure’s comments that her television movies on Great American Family will focus on “traditional marriage” and not members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Honestly, I can’t believe after everything that went down just a few months ago, that she would not only create a movie with intention of excluding LGBTQIA+, but then also talk about it in the press. This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people,” Siwa posted on Instagram.
The message received support from Bure’s Fuller House co-star Jodie Sweetin who replied to the post adding, “You know I love you.”
Siwa and Bure had a little tiff earlier this year when a viral video on TikTok had the Dance Moms alum claiming the Fuller House actor was the “rudest celebrity.” It turns out that when Siwa was an 11-year-old, she attended a red carpet for the Netflix series and asked Bure for a photo. Bure declined to take a picture with the dancer and proceeded to take photos with other people.
Bure reached out to Siwa to talk things out and they were able to clear it with Siwa saying she now understands the pressure of being on a red carpet but at a young age didn’t comprehend.
Bure’s comments were featured in a Wall Street Journal article where she reveals the reason she left Hallmark in favor of Great American Family.
“It basically is a completely different network than when I started because of the change of leadership,” she told the publication.
Her comments come as Hallmark diversifies its storytelling and is set to premiere its first holiday movie featuring a same-sex couple titled The Holiday Sitter. After Bure’s interview went viral GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) issued a statement inviting the actor to a conversation.
“It’s irresponsible and hurtful for Candace Cameron Bure to use tradition as a guise for exclusion,” GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “I’d love to have a conversation with Bure about my wife, our kids, and our family’s traditions. Bure is out of sync with a growing majority of people of faith, including LGBTQ people of faith, who know that LGBTQ couples and families are deserving of love and visibility.”
Ellis said that Bure’s “statement is harmful and insulting to LGBTQ employees, as well as employees with LGBTQ friends and family.”
“If GAF’s plan is to intentionally exclude stories about LGBTQ couples, then actors, advertisers, cable and streaming platforms, and production companies should take note and seriously consider whether they want to be associated with a network that holds exclusion as one of its values,” Ellis concluded.
