Candace Cameron Bure Addresses Stance on Gay Christmas Movies, Blames ‘Toxic Climate’ for Controversy: ‘I’m Called to Love All People, and I Do’ - Variety

Candace Cameron Bure is responding to the backlash. Earlier this week, the actor, who serves arsenic Great American Family’s main originative officer, told “WSJ. Magazine” that the web will not beryllium featuring LGBTQ couples, noting, ““I deliberation that Great American Family volition support accepted matrimony astatine the core,” she said.

CEO Bill Abbott added, “It’s surely the twelvemonth 2022, truthful we’re alert of the trends. There’s nary whiteboard that says, ‘Yes, this’ oregon ‘No, we’ll ne'er spell here.'”

On Wednesday, Bure responded to the galore criticisms of her remarks successful a lengthy statement:

“I would similar to code my comments connected Great American Family’s programming arsenic reported successful ‘The Wall Street Journal.’ All of you who cognize me, cognize beyond question that I person large emotion and affection for each people. It perfectly breaks my bosom that anyone would ever deliberation I intentionally would privation to offend and wounded anyone. It saddens maine that the media is often seeking to disagreement us, adjacent astir a taxable arsenic comforting and merry arsenic Christmas movies. But, fixed the toxic clime successful our civilization close now, I shouldn’t beryllium surprised. We request Christmas much than ever,” she wrote. “I americium a devoted Christian. Which means that I judge that each quality being bears the representation of God. Because of that, I americium called to emotion each people, and I do. If you cognize me, you cognize that I americium a idiosyncratic who loves fiercely and indiscriminately. My bosom yearns to physique bridges and bring radical 1 measurement person to God, to emotion others well, and to simply beryllium a reflection of God’s immense emotion for each of us.”

She continued, “To the members of the media liable for utilizing this accidental to instrumentality flames of struggle and hate, I person a elemental message: I emotion you anyway. To those who hatred what I worth and who are attacking maine online: I emotion you. To those who person tried to assassinate my character: I emotion you. To everyone speechmaking this, of immoderate race, creed, sexuality, oregon governmental party, including those who person tried to bully maine with name-calling, I emotion you.

“I person agelong wanted to find a location for much faith-based programming. I americium grateful to beryllium an integral portion of a young and increasing network. I had besides expressed successful my interview, which was not included, that radical of each ethnicities and identities person and volition proceed to lend to the web successful large ways some successful beforehand of and down the camera, which I promote and afloat support. I’ve ne'er been funny successful proselytizing done my storytelling, but successful celebrating God’s greatness successful our lives done the stories I tell.

The God we service is simply a wildly originative and loving God. He didn’t conscionable seizure a tiny portion of my heart, He has captured each of my heart. He volition beryllium reflected successful everything I bash and say; successful my family, my enactment and my interactions with radical from each walks of life, God’s emotion and God’s compassion is beforehand and center. All of that comes from the LOVE that God himself showered upon humanity erstwhile helium gave the acquisition of joyousness and forgiveness connected the archetypal Christmas greeting 2000 years ago. It is wherefore I emotion Christmas stories and sharing existent joyousness and existent bid with millions of radical astir the world. And successful the sole information of axenic love, I anticipation you’ll articulation maine successful sharing God’s anticipation for each the satellite this Christmas season. Call that my Christmas wish.”

Bure starred successful dozens of vacation movies done the years for the Hallmark Channel earlier exiting successful April and followed erstwhile Hallmark CEO Abbott to GAF. Now, she says her erstwhile location “is a wholly antithetic web than erstwhile I started due to the fact that of the alteration of leadership.”

“My bosom wants to archer stories that person much meaning and intent and extent down them,” she continued. “I knew that the radical down Great American Family were Christians that emotion the Lord and wanted to beforehand religion programming and bully household entertainment.”

In September, Bure spoke to Variety successful extent astir the move and whether the web would beryllium divers and inclusive — some successful telling LGBTQ+ stories but besides successful celebrating antithetic faiths, not conscionable Christian holidays.

“This year, we’re perfectly focusing connected Christmas. I’m definite arsenic the transmission continues to physique content, it volition see different holidays, but I deliberation we cognize the halfway assemblage and what they emotion is precisely however Bill primitively built the Hallmark Channel and that was Christmas and those accepted holidays and truthful that’s what the absorption is going to be,” she said astatine the time. “You got to commencement somewhere. You can’t bash everything astatine once.”

When asked if conversations were being had astir same-sex storylines, she told us, “We haven’t specifically had those discussions. That isn’t wholly up to me, due to the fact that determination is simply a committee that are down each of those decisions, but of people it volition beryllium talked about. And you know, we’ll see. We’ll spot however it goes.”