The producers of ABC’s The Real O’Neals are denying a report that ABC considered cutting the comedy’s Season 2 episode order as punishment for Noah Galvin’s incendiary Vulture interview, in which the gay actor accused Eric Stonestreet of “playing a caricature … of a stereotype” as Modern Family‘s Cam.
“That part of that story is not true,” maintained exec producer Casey Johnson at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Thursday. “There wasn’t any threat to cut our order or anything like that. ABC’s been incredibly supportive.”
Johnson also insisted that things remained relatively calm behind-the-scenes in the days after the story dropped. “The article came out and Noah regretted what he said and apologized fairly quickly,” she said. “I think we’ve all said things we wish we hadn’t. And we all got back to work. So, really, there wasn’t that much buzzing behind the scenes.”
In making his apology, Galvin said, “I think Eric Stonestreet is a wonderful actor,” he tweeted less than 12 hours after the interview went viral. “I apologize to everyone I’ve hurt with my comments and understand the damage that has been done. I am new to this and will certainly commit to being more thoughtful and wiser as I navigate all of this moving forward.”
