Danica McKellar Disagrees With Neal Bledsoe’s GAF Exit After Candace Cameron Bure’s Comments

Danica McKellar doesn’t agree with former co-star Neal Bledsoe’s decision to stop working with the Great American Family after Candace Cameron Bure’s comments about keeping “traditional marriage at the core” of the network. McKellar, who co-starred in November’s Christmas at the Drive-In with Bledsoe, called him a “wonderful person” and a “great actor” in an interview with Fox News Saturday, but disagreed with him stepping away from GAF.

“He and I both share our love and support of [the] LGBT community, for sure,” the Wonder Years alum continued. “You know, I don’t agree with his interpretation of her comments. I just didn’t see them the same way.” Bledsoe’s exit came after Bure told WSJ Magazine that the network didn’t plan to include LGBTQ+ couples in their productions moving forward. Great American Media CEO Bill Abbott agreed that while the network was “aware of the trends” in 2022, there were no plans to include same-sex love stories.

Bledsoe announced earlier this month that as someone who has found “refuge and a guiding light” in the LGBTQ+ community, he felt the need to stand up for it now. “So, I want to be very clear: my support for the LGBTQIA+ community is unconditional – nothing is worth my silence or their ability to live and love freely in a world that we are lucky enough to share with them,” he wrote in a lengthy statement to Variety.

He continued: “Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, and these are mine: the recent comments made by leadership at Great American Family are hurtful, wrong, and reflect an ideology that prioritizes judgment over love. I was raised as a Christian, and believe in the essential message of love and forgiveness. That said, I could never forgive myself for continuing my relationship with a network that actively chooses to exclude the LGBTQIA+ community.”

McKellar, meanwhile, defended Bure’s comments to Fox News. “When she was talking about the portrayal of heterosexual couples in the movies, she started the sentence with ‘I think,’ which is not definitive, and she ended it with ‘at its core,’ which doesn’t mean exclusively,” the actress said. “But I love [Bledsoe] to death and wish him well.”

Bure has since responded to the backlash from her initial interview. “All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people,” the Full House alum wrote on Instagram last month. “It absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone. … I am a devoted Christian. Which means that I believe that every human being bears the image of God. Because of that, I am called to love all people, and I do. If you know me, you know that I am a person who loves fiercely and indiscriminately.”