Jesse Tyler Ferguson Felt “Protected” By ‘Modern Family’ Role After He Was “Gay-Bashed”

Jesse Tyler Ferguson has witnessed first-hand how times have changed since Modern Family.

The Emmy Award nominee reflected on the ABC sitcom’s personal impact after he previously “sort of got gay bashed a little bit” in Las Vegas before starring as gay lawyer Mitchell Pritchett for the entirety of its 11-season run from 2009 to 2020.

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“It wasn’t anything violent, but it was definitely like, there was negative energy coming at me from a couple that felt uncomfortable around me and my then-boyfriend,” he explained to Nicole Byer on his Dinner’s on Me podcast this week.

“I went [back to Vegas] after Modern Family, and I remember feeling that same negativity initially,” Ferguson added. “But then they would see who it was and they would recognize me from being, ‘Oh, I am gay, but I’m also that gay one from TV and I like that show,’ and there would be a change.”

He noted the experience was “really weird” and his “initial” feeling “was disgust. Like, let’s process this,” adding: “But also there was this like some weird superpower that I felt like I was being protected by this role that I was also playing, and it kind of gave me this coat of armor, and I had this protection of being this character that people also loved. I don’t know, it was really weird.”

Ferguson’s character Mitchell raised an adopted daughter named Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) with his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) on the series, and the pair tied the knot in the Season 5 two-part finale in 2014.

The openly actor married Justin Mikita in 2013, and they share two children.

In June, Ferguson reunited with his Modern Family co-stars Stonestreet, Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen for a WhatsApp commercial.

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