Jesse Tyler Ferguson criticised by gay community over Modern Family role
The 49-year-old actor played Mitchell Pritchett on the hit TV sitcom between 2009 and 2020 - but some viewers were unhappy with his depiction of queer life, parenthood and marriage.
During an appearance on the Dinner's On Me podcast, Jesse explained: "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."
Despite this, Jesse always "took [the criticism] with such a grain of salt, because I'm representing one person. I'm in charge of this one character."
Meanwhile, Jesse previously claimed that his Modern Family stint helped to shield him from homophobia.
The actor admitted that the TV show had a transformative impact on his life.
He said on the Dinner's On Me podcast in 2024: "I went to Las Vegas, and I had been in Las Vegas a few years earlier, and I sort of got gay bashed a little bit.
"It wasn't anything violent, but it was definitely like, there was negative energy coming at me from a couple that felt uncomfortable around me and my then-boyfriend.
"And then years later I went, after Modern Family, and I remember feeling that same negativity initially, but then they would see who it was, and they would recognise me from being, I am gay, but I'm also that gay one from TV."
Jesse felt like his on-screen role offered him some form of protection.
He said: "There was some weird superpower that I felt like I was being protected by this role that I was also playing.
"It kind of gave me this coat of armour, and I had this protection of being this character that people also loved. I don't know. It was really weird."
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