Oppression in Entertainment: Growing Pains

by guest blogger Simone:

While we are covering the topic of Oppression in Entertainment this week, I learned that former child actor, Kirk Cameron of the 80's show, 'Growing Pains', is a born again Christian who made some oppressive and controversial comments about gays on his talk show appearance on the Piers Morgan show last week. He said that homosexuality was "unnatural", and added, "I think that it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”

Many celebrities and people all over social media have criticized Cameron for his narrow ways of thinking. And in light of Rush Limbaugh's inflammatory and hateful comments towards a young female law student (calling her a slut), we have two new examples of high-profile persons using public communication mediums to express oppressive verbiage that are extremely offensive to persons that the sentiments are directed at. I personally feel that Kirk Cameron should apologize for what he said... but he may not as many people who strongly share the same faith as he, may feel the same way. Read the attached article, and make note of Kirk's former TV dad, Robin Thicke's failed attempt at being humorous!

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/06/kirk-cameron-reactions-alan-thicke-tracey-gold/

Every family has one. Even the Seavers. Members of Kirk Cameron’s Growing Pains family, including Alan Thicke and Tracey Gold, are among those in Hollywood disappointed to hear what Mike Seaver has turned into. Camereon, a born-again Christian, has recently come under fire for making controversial statements about homosexuality. The 41-year-old actor/writer/director told CNN’s Piers Morgan he thought homosexuality is “unnatural,” adding, “I think that it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”

Those comments caught the attention of GLAAD, who shot back at the star, “Kirk Cameron sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character.” But they aren’t the only ones speaking up. Thicke, Cameron’s TV dad from Growing Pains, responded on Twitter, “I’ll address kirk’s comments as soon as I recover from rush limbaugh’s” and “I’m getting him some new books. The Old Testament simply can’t be expected to explain everything.” Thicke later tweeted, “I love Kirk but I may have to spank him…’tho not in a gay way!”

Gold, who played Cameron’s sister on the hit series, took to her Twitter as well to speak out against her former co-star’s opinions on the gay and lesbian community. Gold, whose Twitter profile picture is from the NOH8 campaign wrote, “I am a strong supporter of the #LGBT Community, and I believe in equal rights for all. #NOH8 #LOVE.”

But the Seavers aren’t the only ones disappointed in Cameron. Fellow 80s television staples like Neil Patrick Harris tweeted, “That Kirk Cameron is hilarious!” while Roseanne Barr wrote from her page, “Kirk or kurt or whatever Cameron is an accomplice to murder with his hate speech.”

Additionally, Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson posted, “The only unnatural thing about me being gay is that I had a crush on Kirk Cameron until about 24 hours ago,” and Raising Hope‘s Martha Plimpton wrote, “The word “Equality” shows up too much in our founding documents for anyone to pretend it’s not the American way. #usethe19th #equalitynow.”

The Good Wife‘s Josh Charles joked from his page, “I know Growing Pains was only a tv show, but I have to think both Alan Thicke & Joanna Kerns must feel they failed as parents tonight.”

While Craig Ferguson, Debra Messing, Michael Showalter, and Dave Holmes have all joined in speaking out against Cameron, he does seem to have one supporter in Hollywood: Stephen Baldwin. The conservative actor wrote in response to Cameron’s now-infamous Piers Morgan Tonight appearance, “GREAT JOB Kirk !!! Let’s pray one day Piers Morgan finds true Salvation, God Bless!”