Modern Family is arguably one of the best sitcoms of all time, and made history for its constant Emmy love and representation of LGBTQ+ couples in a time where this was rare. Despite how universally acclaimed the series was during its whopping 11 seasons on the air, Mitchell actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson recently spoke about the backlash he got for that role, and how hurtful it was when coming from the queer community itself.
Modern Family, which is streaming with a Peacock subscription, began its tenure on the air before marriage equality had passed in 2015. While Ferguson’s father originally lamented him playing gay roles, it turns out criticism came from queer folks as well. In a conversation with Russell Tovey on his podcast Dinner’s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the star of stage and screen revealed that some LGBTQ+ folks weren’t happy with how he was representing queer folks on screen. He shared:
One of the pressures I’ve always felt, specifically after being on a show like Modern Family, where I’m portraying a gay man on a television show, on a network that is as popular as it is you receive criticism, as you do, with anything you do, but the criticism that I think I heard the loudest was always from the gay community, feeling as if, maybe, I didn’t represent their idea of what a gay relationship was, or a gay man was, which I always took with such a grain of salt.
Ouch. While the Modern Family actor was making history by bringing Mitch and Cam’s relationship to the small screen, it turns out that some LGBTQ+ viewers thought he was playing a stereotype. One can only imagine how that must have felt for the Cocaine Bear star as he was taking his career from Broadway to television.
This type of feedback is taking me by surprise, as I always was delighted by the way Ferguson brought Mitch to life. So did the critics, as he ended up being nominated for five consecutive Emmy nominations. Later in that same conversation with Tovey, the Mid-Century Modern actor spoke about playing his signature character pretty close to how he is IRL. In his words:
I’m representing one person. I’m in charge of this one character. It also was a shade of who I was, so, you’re kind of like, ‘If it’s stereotypical, I’m basically playing myself, so I guess, guilty, guilty as charged.’
Hearing about being a stereotype while not trying to necessarily put a character on must have been strange for JTF. As he admits, he was largely playing himself as Mitch, albeit with unique and sitcom-focused stories. So if he was a stereotype in the role, I guess he was a stereotype off camera as well.
Modern Family is streaming on Peacock and Hulu right now. We’ll just have to see where Jesse Tyler Ferguson appears on screen next; he most recently appeared onstage in Twelfth Night at The Public, co-starring Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Peter Dinklage.
