Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson recently shared the impact he received from the gay community for his portrayal of Mitchell Pritchett, a married gay man in the hit TV series “Modern Family.”
It brought me back to my own defense of Ferguson 15 years ago, as well as my public criticism of an NBA courtside appearance he made that hit the wrong tone for me.
Jumping back ahead, Ferguson made his most recent comments on his podcast, harkening back to a chorus of folks while he was on one of TV’s most popular shows.
“The criticism I heard the loudest was always from the gay community,” Ferguson shared on his podcast, Dinner’s On Me. This episode features actor Russell Tovey. “Feeling as if maybe I didn’t represent their idea of what a gay relationship was or what a gay man was, which I always took with a grain of salt because I’m representing one person, I’m in charge of this one character.”
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I never understood the criticism Ferguson faced for portraying a gay character that was “stereotypically gay.” By the time the series rolled around in 2009, we’d had eight seasons of Will & Grace — while “stereotypical” Jack often stole the show, Will represented a more non-stereotypical gay guy. For eight seasons.
And there were other portrayals of gay men on TV — e.g., Brothers and Sisters — at the time that moved away at least in part from stereotypes.
So I never got the criticism of Ferguson for portraying a stereotypical gay man. I even said that at the time.
“I think what he’s doing for gay couples on TV is wonderful,” I told The Advocate at the time. “I didn’t say he was a bad person. I just don’t think it was funny.” Adding: “there are enough people like John Amaechi and Dan Choi that I think people know all gay people aren’t like this.”
Ferguson didn’t carry the torch for all gay people.
With that being said, I stand by my criticism of his cheap NBA joke.
He and Stonestreet were at that New York Knicks game in 2010. Playing into the stereotype of his “Modern Family” character, Ferguson relied on dumb jokes and old tropes for some poor humor.
“Excited to go to my first NBA ‘sports game’ tonight,” Ferguson tweeted, along with comments about a big “orange ball” and finishing “Act I” of the game. Stonestreet added that he — straight man, had to explain sports to Ferguson.
It was just a cheap joke. Predictable, tired. And at a time when out gay men in sports were extremely rare.
Ferguson has always seemed like a nice enough guy. He got into it with me on X when I tweeted about his antics, but he also quickly backed off. My guess is he realized the joke just wasn’t very funny, I meant well with my criticism, and we’re on the same team.
And I agree with him. Criticism about playing his character, particularly in 2010, was misguided. My criticism of his bad joke that just served to advance stereotypes… a waste of what seems like a smart, funny guy.
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