"You wouldn’t know it to look at him — he’s such a great teddy bear of a man — but Eric Stonestreet killed three people last year," writes Barbara Hoffman. "Happily, they were all on TV. While wreaking mayhem on The Mentalist and NCIS, he was also playing Cameron Tucker, the doting gay dad of ABC’s Modern Family."

Hoffman continues:
And no, Stonestreet isn’t a father. He isn’t even gay. But for a former Kansas boy who was big into pig farming, playing Cam is the sweetest thing in the world. With reason. Cam is that rare, exuberant soul who not only waves his freak flag but serves as his own marching band. As his partner, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), frets about telling his family about Lily, the baby they’ve just adopted, Cam jumps in: He cues up his “Lion King” soundtrack and holds her above his head, Simba-style.

But while Cam and Mitchell’s pairing has met with “overwhelmingly positive” support, Stonestreet is braced for any backlash:

“If someone has a problem with watching two gay men raise a child on TV, they can always change the channel and watch someone get raped or murdered.”

It helps that Stonestreet and Ferguson have such good chemistry together, on set and off.

“He’s gay and I’m straight and we have fun with that,” Stonestreet says. “After I got the part, we decided to meet for coffee and get to know each other. In the middle of it, we realized it was Valentine’s Day and we were surrounded by lovers! That was a funny way to start off.”

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