When Modern Family got called out by a Facebook group for failing to show any physical affection between the show's gay couple, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), the producers issued a half-hearted and joking explanation -- they used "chillax" at one point -- and probably assumed the whole affair was behind them. Except not when series star Ed O'Neill is on the prowl.
The Modern Family patriarch was pressed by PopEater for his thoughts on the issue and his feelings sound just as curmudgeonly as his on-screen alter-ego usually does.
PopEater: What do you think of the protests over Cameron and Mitchell's muted displays of affection?
O'Neill: Oh, that's so stupid. Who cares? When I hear that, it's half amusing, half annoying. First of all, they're the most conservative family of the three. Mitchell is a lawyer, and Cameron is a stay-at-home mom with a baby ... It's much, much better to allow people to use their imaginations when they want to, in that regard. Otherwise, it turns into a sort of pornography. If people want to be titillated or shocked or, "Oh, wow, they're actually kissing," I mean, who cares? The format is, they live together. We assume they have sex. I don't think we need to see it beginning or ending. Who cares? To me, it's boring. Gloria and I haven't done any making out in the first 24 shows ... When people start to make out or kiss or French kiss or caress in a sexual manner, the story stops. Where do you go with that? It's like, "Okay, now, let's see... five seconds, ten seconds, 15 seconds, gee, they're still making out, my goodness, they're actually kissing." Who cares? The story stops.
But wait, does he care? Unclear. O'Neill he does bring up a good point about the fact that he hasn't gotten to suck face with Sofia Vergara -- and that Cameron and Mitchell are conservative in nature -- but it seems a bit dangerous to suggest that showing two people kiss on TV is "pornography," especially when referring to a homosexual couple.
Anyway, the Modern Family producers have said they would address this matter in the fall. And hopefully it won't be with just a throwaway line about how Mitchell doesn't like kissing on camera.
Ed O'Neill Finds 'Modern Family' Gay Kiss Controversy 'Half Amusing, Half Annoying' [PopEater]