The 1/18 episode of ABC’s Modern Family has drawn the attention of the Parents Television Council, thanks to Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) shocking her parents when she starts dropping the F-bomb. While creator Steve Levitan told reporters at the Television Critics Association that he’s “proud and excited” of the new storyline, PTC is not happy: “It’s not suitable language for a child that young in the real world, and it’s not suitable language for a child that young on television, either.”
One of Lily’s two on-screen dads, Jesse Tyler Ferguson told E! Online: “I can assure you she did not actually say the F-word on the show. We said the very innocent word fudge, but people are all up in arms about that. This is not child abuse! We’re not making her cuss. What she does on her own time, we don’t know…” he said humorously.
Lily’s other dad, Eric Stonestreet also had plenty to say on his Twitter about the issue: “For fornication sake people! Again, how bout actually SEEING what you’re against before u r so STRONGLY against it. How bout redirecting energies…2 reading 2 the elderly, picking up litter, feeding the hungry..So focused on the ‘cussing’ in tonight’s Modern Family, everyone seems to have neglected Ty, Jesse, Ed’s, and my full frontal scene.”
RBR-TVBR observation: Probably much ado about nothing. The Commission still does not allow the F-Word and it gets bleeped out all of the time. Just like using the word “fudge,” the bleeps are not hiding what everyone knows characters are saying—children included.
