Neal Bledsoe, who has starred in movies on both Hallmark and Great American Family, announced to Variety that he is leaving GAF due to inclusivity concerns, and he hopes GAF will change one day. He just starred in a new Christmas movie on GAF opposite Danica McKellar called “Christmas at the Drive-In.” Bledsoe said his concerns were why he hadn’t been promoting the movie like he normally would.
He Said the LGBTQIA+ Community Helped Him When He Once Struggled with a ‘Narrow Definition of Masculinity’
In an exclusive statement to Variety, Bledsoe said he was distancing himself from Great American Family, a new network that has signed a number of contracts with Hallmark stars. He added that he’s also donating to True Colors United and hopes others will do the same.
He began his statement by telling Variety how important the LGBTQIA+ community has been to him throughout his life, especially during a time when he struggled with society’s definition of what masculinity means.
“My life wouldn’t be where it is today without the love, support, and guidance of the LGBTQIA+ community,” he said, adding that mentors, agents, managers, writers, teachers, and more had all influenced his life and he owed them all.
“As someone who struggled as a young man with our society’s extremely narrow definition of masculinity, it was their community that provided me with refuge and a guiding light when my life felt lost,” he shared.
Bledsoe said that he needs to stand up for the LGBTQIA+ community, just like they helped him in the past.
“And now, if I cannot stand up for that community in their time of need, my debt to them means nothing,” he told Variety. “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.”
Bledsoe Explained This Is Why He Has Not Been Promoting His Christmas Movie with McKellar
Bledsoe went on to explain to Variety that some had noticed he had been quiet about his new Christmas movie with Danica McKellar, and this is why.
He told Variety: “You may have noticed that I have been unusually silent at a time when I should have been promoting a holiday film, a film with the express purpose of bringing everyone comfort in a time of great tumult and change, but I cannot continue with business as usual. I cannot take comfort from, nor will I give refuge to, those who excuse exclusion and promote division in any way, shape, or form.”
His Statement Came Shortly After McKellar Issued Her Own Statement About Believing in Inclusivity
McKellar herself also issued a statement about inclusivity just before Thanksgiving, saying that she’s a new Christian and believes in “all forms of healthy love between adults.”
“My husband and I were privileged to attend my good friend’s beautiful wedding to his husband earlier this year in Mexico,” she wrote, referring to a Jonathan Bennett’s wedding.
She added that she supports representation, and “as far as I can tell, Jesus loves and includes everyone. That’s kind of His thing…”
In his statement, Bledsoe said that while everyone is entitled to their beliefs, he believes that “the recent comments made by leadership at Great American Family are hurtful, wrong, and reflect an ideology that prioritizes judgment over love.”
He added that he was raised a Christian, and he believes “in the essential message of love and forgiveness.”
Bledsoe added: “That said, I could never forgive myself for continuing my relationship with a network that actively chooses to exclude the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Bledsoe Shared That This Isn’t About Freedom of Expression, But About Compassion & Doing the Right Thing
Bledsoe told Variety that the issue isn’t the freedom to express beliefs that he disagrees with, but “someone in an executive position speaking about deliberate exclusion.”
He went on to say that most romantic movies aren’t about marriage, but about people falling in love, so “the phrase ‘traditional marriage’ is as odious as it is baffling.” He added that describing representing the LGTBQIA+ community as a trend “is also both troubling and confusing.”
Bledsoe noted that when the Mormon Church supports marriage equality and the right is about to be “codified into law,” the question is “whether any organization that stands against such love would be trending toward the dustbin of history.”
He said that he reached out to a friend “who grew up out and brown in the South,” and his friend talked about when Elizabeth Taylor visited the lonely people dying of AIDS when society was shunning them.
“Her compassion was neither cool, nor woke, nor a virtue signal, it was just the right thing to,” he wrote.
Bledsoe went on to share a statement from his friend, which you can read in full in Variety’s article here. His friend pointed out that by leaving the LGBTQIA+ community out of Christmas movies, a network is communicating “the belief that happiness is impossible with us in the picture. Worse yet: that we do not deserve happiness simply because of who we are. The animus is not simply to hate the sin; it’s to get the sinner to hate themselves so much that they capitulate to this corrosive narrative.”
Bledsoe continued, writing, “the thought that my work could be used to deliberately discriminate against anyone horrifies and infuriates me. I hope GAF will change, but until everyone can be represented in their films with pride, my choice is clear.”
Bledsoe Spoke Out in March About Celebrities Who Were Silent About Ukraine
Bledsoe isn’t shy about speaking out when it’s important to him. In March, he spoke out about celebrities who were silent about Ukraine.
He told Heavy at the time: “My objective here is not to draw attention to myself, or pick fights with celebrities and brands. Instead, I want to raise awareness for an on-going crisis that I fear will get much worse before it gets better… Obviously, I am no foreign policy expert, nor do I pretend to be, but I am someone who is trying to dig into the truth and share that truth when I find it.”
Bledsoe recently starred opposite McKellar in GAC Family’s “The Winter Palace” and then again in the new movie “Christmas at the Drive-Through.” He’s starred in a number of Hallmark movies, including “Coming Home for Christmas” opposite McKellar and “A Christmas Carousel” opposite Rachel Boston.
That Mr. Bledsoe is your prerogative. You can quit because of your beliefs as well as companies that do not want to work with you because of their beliefs. Just remember this works both ways. You guys seem to forget that.
I love GAF. I believe we all are equal and should not force anyone to watch anything on TV. Individual choice AND parental choice. I watched interview with GAF President who indicated he wants to be more family oriented. I have gay friends both men and women. It is not my place to judge but it is my place to teach values and truths. Parents should not be forced when trying to watch family movies about alternative life styles. If parents are open about this, kids will understand .Leaving tye network will do nothing for this guy’s career. Education should start in the home. This is like a bully retreating due to not liking policies.
Too bad this happens,
I too, am a devout Christian, but what so many don’t understand, is the fact that Jesus Christ is totallly about LOVE, however He also is about His own righteousness. People only want to look at one side of the coin so to speak, but there are 2 sides. There needs to be a negative and a positive for a battery to work in an appliance; same with Christianity, there are do’s there are don’ts that we are to adhere too IF we want to spend eternity in HEAVEN. There is no where that I’m aware of that we are to mistreat any person, however we are told in God’s word, that those claiming to be in the LGBTQ group have to make the decision whether they love one another more in this life and spending eternity in hell or living a life of separation and loving God to spend eternity in Heaven. God’s word clearly states in the scriptures provided: Leviticus 18:22 – Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (Read More…)
Leviticus 20:13 – If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Romans 1:26-28 – For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (Read More…)
1 Timothy 1:10 – For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
Mark 10:6-9 – But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. (Read More…)
Jude 1:7 – Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
1 Corinthians 7:2 – Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1 Timothy 1:10-11 – For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; (Read More…)
Romans 1:27 – And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Romans 1:32 – Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Genesis 19:1-38 – And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
I have known a few people I “thought” were gay, never mistreated them a time; talked with them on more than one occasion, but I would never fall in love with one of them, because I prefer to live my life knowing I will spend my eternity in Heaven. There will be NO sin there whatsoever.
I am so proud of your decision. I have some people that I know didn’t like the newer movies on Hallmark. They chose to not watch all the Halmark movies this Christmas. Alls the pity for them. God made us all so it is sad they don’t see it this way.
I appreciate his honesty. I am so grateful to GAC for their strong stand on Christianity and the correct Biblical standards. GAC has finally given us good movies that we can watch with out Grandchildren and not have to explain.
with OUR