'The Christmas Hoe': Insi first gay Hallmark holiday movie - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER
• THE HALLMARK CHANNEL'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE STARS 'MEAN GIRLS' JONATHAN BENT
• OPEN MENUVIOSHOPWELLNSFOODCULTUREFAYLIVGSTYLETRAVELNEWSBOOK CLUBGMA3: WYNTKNEWSLETTERPRIVACY POLICY — YOUR US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS — CHILDREN'S ONLE PRIVACY POLICY — INTERT-BASED ADS — TERMS OF USE — DO NOT SELL MY INFO — CONTACT USCOPYRIGHT © 2023 ABC NEWS INTER VENTUR. ALL RIGHTS RERVED.SEARCH'GMA' DEALS & STEALS FOR SUMMER FUNCULTURESEPTEMBER 23, 2020HALLMARK CHANNEL ANNOUNC CHRISTMAS MOVIE FEATURG GAY UPLE LOOKG TO ADOPT
• HALLMARK PREMIER S FIRST LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD UPLE
• FALLY, HALLMARK’S HOLIDAY FARE MAK A GAY UPLE ‘PART OF THE FAY’
• HALLMARK RELEAS ITS FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE WH TWO LEADG MEN
• A MEAN GIRLS ALUM IS BRGG A GAY ROMANCE TO HALLMARK'S CHRISTMAS LP
• MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI

JONATHAN BENT WANTED TO CREATE A GAY UNCLE BUCK FOR THE HOLIDAY STER

In the movie, which buts Sunday, Bent plays Sam, a gay guy whose personal life suffers at the st of his profsnal life — work over marriage. '" Add to the formula the actor's love of the '80s classic Uncle Buck starrg John Candy, pl his sire to see a movie that was "really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022. " And that turned to me and my love for Uncle Buck, the movie wh John Candy that I grew up on, and I kd of put those ias together and I said, "What if Uncle Buck was gay?

Sam is beg really thentic to what 's like beg a gay man 2022 and what that experience is.

As gay men, we're navigatg what our liv look like wh kids, or gettg married, or whout kids, and 's not black or whe — there's so many different avenu to startg a fay and havg a chosen fay.

THE HALLMARK CHANNEL'S FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE STARS 'MEAN GIRLS' JONATHAN BENT

Somethg I found so funny is how Sam realiz that Jason is gay — when Jason ments on Sam's sho.

Like, "Oh wow, he is gay.

At least five of them feature LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or qutng) upl. The Hallmark Channel is set to make history — and make good on s promise for more LGBTQ-cln — wh s first holiday movie featurg a gay lead character.

OPEN MENUVIOSHOPWELLNSFOODCULTUREFAYLIVGSTYLETRAVELNEWSBOOK CLUBGMA3: WYNTKNEWSLETTERPRIVACY POLICY — YOUR US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS — CHILDREN'S ONLE PRIVACY POLICY — INTERT-BASED ADS — TERMS OF USE — DO NOT SELL MY INFO — CONTACT USCOPYRIGHT © 2023 ABC NEWS INTER VENTUR. ALL RIGHTS RERVED.SEARCH'GMA' DEALS & STEALS FOR SUMMER FUNCULTURESEPTEMBER 23, 2020HALLMARK CHANNEL ANNOUNC CHRISTMAS MOVIE FEATURG GAY UPLE LOOKG TO ADOPT

The film foc on a gay uple lookg to adopt their first child and airs on Sunday, Nov. The upg Halloween season may be “Gay Christmas” to many queer people, but there’s certaly a factn of the muny for whom Mariah Carey’s favore holiday certaly holds a ep meang. Bent, who is an out gay actor, posted to Instagram to share the excg news on Friday.

And yet, 2017, when one viewer asked Hallmark why there were no gay upl any of their hundreds of Christmas roms, a reprentative claimed that there were no “forced valu” associated wh the work, and that they were not “issu-oriented.

HALLMARK PREMIER S FIRST LGBTQ HOLIDAY MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD UPLE

3:40David Becker/Getty Imag for Outft, FILEHallmark apologiz for pullg ad pictg gay uple kissgHallmark Channel and s parent pany, Crown Media Fay Network, are liverg on a promise to diversify their holiday movi. Christmas Hoe, " which featur a storyle about a gay uple lookg to adopt their first child, acrdg to Michelle Viry, executive vice print of programmg for Crown Media Fay Network. This year, the channel cid to diversify s sts by featurg s first openly gay lead uple.

Gay characters have been featured Hallmark movi before; Bent, fact, has played married gay man The Christmas Hoe and The Christmas Hoe 2 2020 and 2021. “We felt that was time for a story wh a gay uple, ” says Daly, who April signed Bent to an exclive, multi-picture al. The Holiday Ster lands at a time when gay rom-s are havg a moment.

FALLY, HALLMARK’S HOLIDAY FARE MAK A GAY UPLE ‘PART OF THE FAY’

For Lifetime, which last year had “The Christmas Setup, ” the channel’s first-ever movie starrg gay leads, the move was a big one: the premiere of “Unr the Christmas Tree, ” s first movie featurg lbians as the uple at the center of a holiday romance. Meanwhile, Hallmark ma a smaller step by settg “The Christmas Hoe 2: Deck Those Halls, ” a sequel to 2020’s “The Christmas Hoe, ” which featured Jonathan Bent and Brad Harr as a gay uple lookg to adopt.

HALLMARK RELEAS ITS FIRST GAY CHRISTMAS MOVIE WH TWO LEADG MEN

The dispary between the extents to which the Christmas-obssed ble channels are focg on LGBTQ holiday ntent 2021 is nsistent wh their rpective cisns ma on the matter last year, when Lifetime st a gay uple as leads “The Christmas Setup” and Hallmark featured s first homosexual uple as part of an ensemble “The Christmas Hoe. “Even though we’ve got ‘Unr the Christmas Tree, ’ which is a real highlight, we’ve got several others the mix that are clive, whether they’re gay upl or jt characters, we’ve been tryg to make sure that people are reprented across the board, ” Lifetime head of programmg Amy Wter told TheWrap durg an Oct.

A MEAN GIRLS ALUM IS BRGG A GAY ROMANCE TO HALLMARK'S CHRISTMAS LP

When “The Christmas Setup, ” Lifetime’s first-ever movie starrg gay leads, played by married--real-life uple Ben Lewis and Blake Lee, buted last year, Wter told TheWrap she had been lookg for a project starrg LGBTQ leads for some time, but was very agast somethg “really sacchare.

MAKE THE YULETI GAY WH THE NEW LGBTQ CHRISTMAS MOVI

“The fact that big Hallmark — the greetg-rd divisn — overturned Bill Abbott’s cisn on the Zola ad shows that the pany is ser about diversy their mographics, and we’re seeg lots of baby steps the 2020 and 2021 movi wh gay and lbian B-stori.