Longtime Hallmark mainstay Luke Macfarlane surprised fans last year when he announced he'd be stepping away from the network for a bit to focus on other projects. But the Bros star clearly still cares about the stories he helped tell as part of the network's core group of actors as well as Hallmark's dedication to telling LGBTQIA+ stories. Macfarlane is the latest actor to weigh in on Candace Cameron-Bure's comments about Hallmark competitor Great American Family. In 2022, Bure — who starred opposite Macfarlane in 2018's A Shoe Addict's Christmas and serves as the chief creative officer of Great American Family — told The Wall Street Journal that Great American Family will keep "traditional marriage at the core," and revealed that she joined the network because "my heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them."
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Macfarlane, who's currently starring on the AppleTV+ series Platonic, reacted to Bure's comments during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
"It's that whole thing that was, why does me having visibility make yourself any less different?" Macfarlane said. "I think that we all deserve a place in the media, in the film world."
And it seems that Macfarlane isn't done with Hallmark Christmas flicks just yet. The Single All the Way star told The Hollywood Reporter that he was set to appear in a yet-to-be-announced holiday film on the network. (He last appeared in the Christmas film A Magical Christmas Village, co-starring Alison Sweeney.)
"Hallmark has been very good to me, and I have agreed to do a Christmas movie for them this year. So I'm adding to the canon," Macfarlane said.
Macfarlane also expressed gratitude for the network for the opportunity for "learning on the job."
"What's been always fun about the Hallmark movies is how much leeway they give you and the pace," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Talk about learning on the job. You gotta know what you're doing when you show up, because there is not a lot of time. We shoot them in 15 days, and they tend to overshoot so that they have their bases covered."
Macfarlane isn't the only familiar Hallmark face to react to Bure's comments. Former Hallmark star Hilarie Burton Morgan took to Twitter to respond to Bure and chief executive at Great American Media, Bill Abbott. (Abbott departed the channel after the network ran and then pulled ads for a wedding company called Zola featuring two brides kissing on their special day.)
"Now they're just openly admitting their bigotry," she wrote. "I called this s—- 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."
Great American Family actor Neal Bledsoe departed the network in a show of support for the LGBTQIA+ community following comments made by Abbott and Bure.
"I cannot take comfort from, nor will I give refuge to, those who excuse exclusion and promote division in any way, shape, or form," Bledsoe wrote. "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."
Hallmark queen Lacey Chabert also defended her network, though she did not mention Bure directly.
"Any shift I've felt has been embracing our creative ideas," Chabert said of the Hallmark channel, according to Variety. "And it's my responsibility to the audience who continue to tune into my movies that I give the best I have to offer. That's always my mission. I'll never abandon what Hallmark means for me, which is that everything is centered around the heart. I don't think there are any plans for that to change anytime soon."
