Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson says sitcom fame protected him from ‘gay bashing’

Ferguson played Mitchell Pritchett on the long-running sitcom

Modern Familystar Jesse Tyler Ferguson has spoken out about how the TV series helped shield him from homophobic abuse.

Ferguson played lawyer Mitchell Pritchett on the hit family sitcom from 2009 to 2020. In the series, his character is the partner of Cameron Tucker, played by Eric Stonestreet.

Speaking on his Dinner’s on Me podcast on 6 August, Ferguson discussed a difficult experience he had in Las Vegas before Modern Family propelled him to fame.

“I had been in Las Vegas a few years earlier [pre-Modern Family], and I sort of got gay bashed a little bit,” he told guest Nicole Byer.

“This was before… 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.”

Ferguson has been married to actor and producer Justin Mikita since 2013. According to the Modern Family star, he later went back to the city and was shocked at the different reaction he received.

“I went [back] after Modern Family, and I remember feeling that same negativity initially, but then they would see who it was and they would recognise 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 said.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson in ‘Modern Family' (Fox)

Describing the change as “really weird”, Ferguson said: “Your initial [reaction] – I saw it happen – was disgust. Like, let’s process this.

“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 armour, and I had this protection of being this character that people also loved. I don’t know, it was really weird,” he added.

In November 2023, Ferguson and co-star Sofia Vergara shared a selection of images on Instagram showing a reunion between former Modern Family cast members.

Alongside Ferguson and Vergara, the photos also featured Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy), Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker), Ed O’Neil (Jay Pritchett), Sarah Hyland (Haley Dunphy), Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy), Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy), Rico Rodriguez (Manny Delgado), and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (Lily Tucker-Pritchett), who played Cameron and Mitchell’s daughter Lily.