After a joke on ABC's The Real O'Neals compared bisexuality to having "webbed toes" and "money problems," many, including former Grey's Anatomy star Sara Ramirez, have accused the comedy series of biphobia and bisexual erasure. Today, the show's openly gay star Noah Galvin spoke to Gay Star Newsabout the controversy while attending the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association's annual Winners Toast in Los Angeles.
"I think that it's important to know that these writers... they're writing an authentic teenager who is still learning and evolving and has never met a bisexual person in his life," Galvin said of his character, Kenny, the one responsible for the contentious comparison. "I completely realize the crazy, crazy, large responsibility that we have as a show and all the good that we're doing."
Related | 10 Qs: The Real O'Neals' Noah Galvin on Fake Siblings, Dan Savage & Hate Mail
He continued, saying he hopes this won't "Discredit the good we've done for so many kids who write to me daily about how we've helped them come out. Or if coming out is not possible for them for us to at least be an escape for them. I think it's an important, awesome thing that we're doing - I hope people don't discredit that."
Ramirez, who played bisexual Callie Torres for a decade on Grey's and is herself bi, tweeted last week:
It's not the first time O'Neals has come under scrutiny: Galvin previously told Vulturethat Modern Family's Eric Stonestree was playing "a caricature of a caricature of a stereotype of stereotype."
