“Modern Family” Will Air Episode With Toddler’s Curse, Despite Protests

This week’s “Modern Family” features a toddler appears to use a bleeped curse word.  And because of something as little as that, a protestor has asked ABC to pull the episode completely

According to Access Hollywood, McKay Hatch, an 18-year-old college student at Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, said:

“Our main goal is to stop this from happening…If we don’t, at least ABC knows that people all over the world don’t want to have a 2-year-old saying the ‘F-bomb’ on TV…We hope they know better,”

Hatch founded the No Cussing Club in 2007 when he noticed the overwhelming amount of cursing at his school and how it was linked to bullying.  He’s asking his club’s members, whom he said number 35,000 in the United States and about three-dozen other countries, to complain to ABC.

A spokesperson for ABC say the network had no comment.

In the episode, titled “Little Bo Bleep”, 2-year-old Lily shocks parents Mitchell and Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet) when she says F*** while preparing to be a flower girl in a wedding.  Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays Lily, reportedly said “fudge” during taping, and the faux curse will be bleeped while Aubrey’s mouth will be obscured.

Steven Levitan, creator and executive producer of the show, told the Television Critics Association last week that he’s “proud and excited” about the plotline, saying:

“We thought it was a very natural story since, as parents, we’ve all been through this…We are not a sexually charged show. It has a very warm tone so people accept it more. I’m sure we’ll have some detractors.”

I will admit, after researching Mr. Hatch, I was very impressed with what he’s done.  At 14-years-old, the kid started a movement to stop cursing and bullying in schools.  Finding pictures of the club online, I realized that that sort of movement is more than many of us have ever done in our lifetimes, let alone at 14.  I commend him for that and I think he’s done a great job about it, but I think that this is a point that’s maybe going a little too far.  I just hope he doesn’t get too much backlash because of it.