Eric Stonestreet believes 'Modern Family' helped make America less homophobic
On the heels of ABC's "Modern Family" season 10 finale, one of the show's leading stars, Eric Stonestreet, attributed the country's more accepting outlook on homosexual relationships to the sitcom's portrayal of it's characters.
When "The View"'s longtime co-host Joy Behar asked if his role helped make the country less homophobic, he replied "I believe that."
"I can only base it on my personal interactions with people," Stonestreet premised. "One of my favorite tweets ever was a screenshot of a conversation a girl had with her dad that said, 'You cured my dad of his homophobia.' Like, Mitch and Cam cured [her] dad of his homophobia."
"That doesn't mean we take credit for a lot," he added. "People came before us on TV as a gay couple. There will be couples after us. But there's just no doubt that we have had a good cultural [influence], and we're very proud of that."
The groundbreaking show celebrated 200 episodes last year and will enter its 11th and final season in the fall. Season 10's highly-anticipated finale featured Haley (Sarah Hyland) growing the large family by two when she gave birth to twins.
After more than 10 years on air, Stonestreet shared on "The View" that he and the entire "Modern Family" cast and crew feels "fortunate," "happy," and "thankful for everybody that's watched over the years."
"We're going to do our best to say a proper goodbye to this family and goodbye to you," he continued. "Our writers... and the whole staff are gonna do an amazing job."
In the show's season five finale, Cam and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) tied the knot in a modern wedding with their adopted daughter Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), and the rest of their modern family.
Stonestreet said that the goal for the same sex TV couple on the show was to "shuffle their sexuality down the list and get to know them as parents."
"We've always said we just wanted Mitch and Cam to show America that they can make the same mistakes raising a child that anyone else can."
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