Great American Family Boss Dismisses Candace Cameron Bure’s LGBTQ Christmas Movie Stance: ‘She’s Not Speaking on Behalf’ of Network

The head of Great American Family is (very lightly) pushing back on Candace Cameron Bure’s incendiary position regarding LGBTQ+ inclusivity at the network.

To quickly recap: Last year, the Full House vet — who in April 2022 jumped from Hallmark Channel to Great American Family, becoming the latter’s Chief Content Officer — caused a firestorm when she told the Wall Street Journal that G.A.F. “will keep traditional marriage at the core” of its movies.

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The backlash was instantaneous.

“Bigot. I don’t remember Jesus liking hypocrites like Candy,” One Tree Hill vet Hilarie Burton seethed on social media at the time. “But sure. Make your money, honey. You ride that prejudice wave all the way to the bank.” G.A.F. staple Neal Bledsoe, meanwhile, broke ties with the network, calling Bure’s comments “hurtful, wrong and reflect an ideology that prioritizes judgment over love.”

In a just-published Q&A with TVLine’s sister pub Variety, G.A.F. president and CEO Bill Abbott was repeatedly pressed about Bure’s LGBT-flee stance, ultimately declaring, “When she speaks on that, she’s not speaking on behalf of Great American Media.”

Abbott however, refused to commit to including LGBTQ+ couples in its movies, holiday or otherwise.

“We’re not seeking to do anything or not do anything, and we take every day as it comes,” the exec hedged to Variety. “This business is so challenged across the entire industry right now… we’re just looking to celebrate great stories. We don’t have an agenda either way. It’s not in the faith-and-family playbook to have agendas that are either pro or anti. We want to entertain and inspire and be uplifting and consistently provide an experience that is high quality — that is our most important objective.”

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