Sophia Michaels
Candace Cameron Bure won’t say the quiet part out loud, so Hilarie Burton is doing it for her. Following her departure from Hallmark for the Great American Family, Bure told the Wall Street Journal that the decision was driven by the network wanting “to promote faith programming and good family entertainment.” In response, Burton spotlighted the thinly-veiled bigotry at play, writing on Twitter: “Bigot. I don’t remember Jesus liking hypocrites like Candy. But sure. Make your money, honey. You ride that prejudice wave all the way to the bank.”
Bure exited Hallmark after over a decade to follow former Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott – and current Great American Media CEO – to GAC Family after the network ran, pulled, and reinstated a commercial depicting a same-sex wedding. She told WSJ that her “heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them,” but the films she’ll be making with GAC don’t have more purpose, or depth, than Hallmark conveyor belt of holiday movies, they just have less gay people.
“It basically is a completely different network than when I started because of the change of leadership,” Bure said, adding: “I knew that the people behind Great American Family were Christians that love the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment.”
Abbott, in support, stated that “spiritual or faith-based content is grossly underserved” and that he is “aware of the trends.”
“Now they’re just openly admitting their bigotry,” Burton tweeted. “I called this shit out years ago when Abbott was at Hallmark. Glad they dumped him. Being LGBTQ isn’t a ‘trend.’ That guy and his network are disgusting. You too Candy. There is nothing untraditional about same-sex couples.”
Bure took to Instagram in 2017 to clarify that she isn’t homophobic and is “always sad when people think otherwise,” though the undertones of her statements often point in the other direction. “Loving Jesus doesn’t mean I hate gay people or anyone,” she wrote at the time — but it does mean she’ll abandon an entire network to champion another that does, however quietly, suppress the validity of queer love stories.
