“Full House” star and former Hallmark Channel Christmas movie queen Candace Bure is promoting her new holiday movie, “A Christmas... Present,” as well as the “faith programming and good family entertainment” viewers can expect from the new Great American Family channel.
Bure severed ties with Hallmark after 14 years to work with Great American Family network (GAF), where she serves as the chief creative officer. In a recent interview, the actor was candid about not including depictions of same sex marriage or of non-Christian holidays in her movies.
“I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” Bure told the Wall Street Journal.
Bure added that she prefers to focus on stories that align most with her career goals and personal beliefs. In addition to Bure, GAF also snagged former Hallmark Channel CEO Bill Abbott, who says that the channel will not follow “trends.”
Bure credits her Hallmark departure and new venture to creating more “purposeful movies.”
“I’m very excited to develop heartwarming family and faith-filled programming and make the kind of stories my family and I love to watch. I am constantly looking for ways that I can inspire people to live life with purpose,” she said.
When word first spread of Bure leaving Hallmark to go to a new network, she told Variety that the main focus for the channel will be on Christmas with the possibility of showcasing other holidays.
“I’m sure as the channel continues to build content, it will include other holidays, but I think we know the core audience and what they love is exactly how Bill originally built the Hallmark Channel and that was Christmas and those traditional holidays and so that’s what the focus is going to be.” she said.
In response, celebrities like Jo Jo Siwa — who had already called Bure one of the rudest celebrities she’d ever met — made a lengthy post on Instagram saying, “I can’t believe after everything that went down just a few months ago, that she would not only create a movie with intention of excluding LGBTQIA+, but then also talk about it in the press.”
Actress Hilarie Burton also took to social media to share her thoughts on the interview.
While the former Hallmark “queen” of movies can’t speak on her relationship with Hallmark, she did reveal that the network is “completely different” from when she started.
New GAF CEO Abbot believes that Bure — and her one-time “Full House” co-star Lori Loughlin — are perfect for the new network.
“We talk three times a week. We have two scripts that she really likes,” he said “she’s America’s sweetheart, regardless of whatever happened,” said Abbott in reference to the college admission scandal that Loughlin plead guilty to in 2019.
Meanwhile, Hallmark will feature its first LGBTQ+ holiday love story this December. “The Holiday Sitter” tells the story of a workaholic bachelor who’s babysitting his niece and nephew when he gets some unexpected help from a handsome neighbor.
“We want all viewers to see themselves in our programming and everyone is welcome,” said a spokeswoman for Hallmark.
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