Hallmark Channel’s annual collection of Christmas movies starring actors like Danica McKellar and Candace Cameron Bure is designed to spread news and joy. But when the network revealed an early look at this year’s lineup of 40 Christmas movies, including titles like Deliver at Christmas, On the 12th date of Christmas and Christmas doctor – received a piece of coal in return. Social media immediately noticed that none of the movies feature LGBTQ characters or stories and called the channel on Twitter.
Hallmark will release 40 Christmas movies this year. Do any of them have lesbian leads? I suppose not. Do you know what a Hallmark plot with lesbian kisses has? My first Noelle https://t.co/0HxEhZVqQH
– HelenaGreer (@BlumAgainCurios) July 15, 2020
I really love your movies, but I can’t say I’m not expecting an LGBTQ rep that goes beyond just one clue. I hope to see the movies but also more representative.
– Kat Broux (@KatBroux) July 15, 2020
In a statement provided to Yahoo Entertainment on Thursday, George Zaralidis, vice president of network program advertising at Crown Media Family Networks, which owns the Hallmark Channel, wrote:
“Yesterday we were excited to announce 18 of our 40 Christmas movies. Diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we look forward to making some exciting programming announcements in the coming months, including announcements about projects featuring LGBTQ stories, characters, and actors. We are committed to creating a distinctive experience where everyone feels welcome. “
In a separate statement provided to NBC News, Zaralidis emphasized that the channel is in “active negotiations” to feature more LGBTQ content in its Christmas offerings and promised to “announce more details when we can.” Not surprisingly, the network’s comments have produced a variety of reactions, ranging from gratitude to anger to “prove it.”
No, no, what is this country for? I will boycott Hallmark.
Hallmark says it is in negotiations to include LGBTQ stories in Christmas movies https://t.co/n8Nhc07TTn via @nbcnews
– Cindy Stone (@cindylilsweety) July 16, 2020
I’ll believe it when “LGBTQ stories, characters and actors” are the main focus of a Hallmark movie. I doubt that will happen, as your main audience will not want to see LGBTQs kissing or sleeping together. If they make one, I hope it isn’t the repetitive formula from the Hallmark movie.
– heather mcdaniels (@ No1RealWolfy) July 16, 2020
Hallmark’s announcement has also shed new light on the history of diverse network pictures, particularly in regards to its popular holiday movies. In 2017, the International business times He spoke to then-Hallmark CEO William “Bill” Abbott about the predominantly white casts on his schedule. “I feel like this is an industry-wide problem,” Abbott said at the time. “Others have made a little more progress than we have achieved, but at the same time … as a brand and as an organization, we have an excellent track record of doing the right thing, and I believe it will see significant changes over the years as we continue to evolve our content. “
The CEO pointed to a three-movie deal the network reached with U.S. Philippine author Melissa de la Cruz in 2016 as an example of her attempts at diversity. Those movies included Christmas in Angel Falls and Angel Falls: a novel vacation, which was issued in 2016 and 2019, respectively. In both cases, the main actors were white.
Abbott spoke to the press again last year, as Hallmark was unable to follow the example of networks as competitive as Lifetime in diversifying its content. “I think the generalization is not fair either, that we only have Christmas with white tracks,” he commented in Hollywood reporter podcast, Top 5 TV. “In terms of expanding demographics, it’s something we’re always thinking about, we’re always considering, and we will continue to make films where we get the best scripts delivered and we believe they have the greatest potential.”
Hallmark’s 2019 Christmas movie crop featured four films with leading actors of color, including A Christmas miracle, starring Tamera Mowry-Housley, and A family Christmas gift, with Holly Robinson Peete. (Both actresses will return to the Hallmark vacation lineup this year as well: Mowry-Housley tops Christmas carnival, while Peete stars Christmas doctor.)
Also last year, Hallmark made its first two Hanukkah films: Holiday date and Double vacation – who received negative reviews and raised his eyebrows for leaving “Hanukkah” out of the titles.
This year’s second Jewish holiday movie will premiere, make latkes, a psa
– brendan kennedy (@waywaw) December 22, 2019
Yes, I was excited for the Hallmark Hanukkah movies, but these are not them. I am not interested in these movies. It makes me wonder who examined these for Hallmark. Maybe next year.
– Sarah Peaceman (@sarah_peaceman) November 18, 2019
“I think Christmas has become almost a more secular type of vacation than Hanukkah, which really has a more religious feel to it,” Abbott told the Hollywood reporter. “This is our first foray into this kind of double vacation mix with lots of Hanukkah in both movies [and] much of the celebration of how those nights are celebrated and experienced by those who practice religion. “
LGBTQ underrepresentation was also raised in 2019, and Hallmark executives essentially criticized the question until this year. Talking with him Wrap At that time, Crown Media Family Networks Executive Vice President of Programming, Michelle Vicary, echoed some of the same sentiments Zaralidis included in her recent statement: “We continue to expand our diversity. We are looking for releases for LGBTQ movies … and we are looking to expand and represent the United States as a whole. ”
The mixed messages of the network on the subject have taken their toll. Earlier this year, Abbott left Crown Media Family Networks after an incident in December 2019 in which the Hallmark Channel bowed to pressure from conservative groups and pulled an ad from the wedding company Zola showing a couple of lesbians getting married. That decision was widely denounced on social media by prominent LGBTQ voices such as Ellen DeGeneres, who persuaded the network to reverse the course and broadcast the commercial. “The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we have seen the damage it has unintentionally caused,” said Mike Perry, president and CEO of Hallmark Cards Inc., in a statement. “Simply put, they believe this was a wrong decision.”
As Zaralidis suggests in his statement to Yahoo Entertainment, Hallmark has only triggered 18 of his 40 planned Christmas movies for the 2020-2021 season, and announcements for LGBTQ characters and stories may still come. (The production of various films has also been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.) GLAAD, which criticized the network for its handling of the Zola commercial, reportedly reserves any comment until the full lineup is released. In other words, there’s still a chance that Hallmark can make this holiday season’s movie offerings happy and bright … for everyone.
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