Out gay actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson is opening up about the surprising backlash he faced, not from anti-LGBTQ voices, but from inside the community itself. Ferguson, who played Mitchell Pritchett, a gay character, on the groundbreaking sitcom Modern Family, is now the host of the Dinner’s On Me podcast. In a recent episode with guest Russell Tovey, he revealed that the harshest critiques of his role often came from fellow queer people.
He said,
“The criticism that I think I heard at the loudest was always from the gay community…as if maybe I didn’t represent their idea of what a gay relationship was or a gay man was.”
But Ferguson pushed back gently, saying,
“I’m representing one person. I’m in charge of this one character.”
Modern Family, which ran from 2009 to 2020, won 22 Emmy Awards and helped normalize queer families on mainstream TV. Ferguson himself was nominated five times for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
And the show’s impact continues. Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who played Lily, recently used a scene from the show to come out as bisexual on TikTok—proof that visibility still matters, even if it isn’t perfect. For LGBTQ viewers, Ferguson’s honesty offers a reminder: representation is complex, but it’s also powerful.
