Hilarie Burton of Hallmark claimed that she was fired over inclusivity demands. This is the second controversy from the channel. Earlier, it received a backlash for its gay wedding commercial.
Burton shared a series of tweets regarding her Hallmark job.
“Just going through some old emails from a #Hallmark job, I was “let go” from back in January. I had insisted on an LGBTQ character, an interracial couple, and diverse casting. I was polite, direct, and professional. But after the execs gave their notes on the script and NONE of my …”
She commented on her post, “Requests were honored, I was told, “take it or leave it.” I left it. And the paycheck. Shitty being penalized for standing up for inclusivity. I wanted that job. It was close to my house. It paid well. It was about the military, which you all know I hold dear. But?”
Burton added I’d walk away again in a heartbeat. The bigotry comes from the top and permeates the whole deal over there. I’ve been loudly cheering for @lifetimetv all year because they heard my concerns + RALLIED! Do you want inclusive Christmas magic?! We got it. Love is love, #receipts.”
Her last tweet was, “Key point here: I have a wonderful husband @JDMorgan who works his ass off, so I have the luxury to choose morals over paying bills. Not everyone has that! Nor should we be forced to be dependent. If I had to cover our mortgage and were told, “take it or leave it,” I’d be fucked.”
There were some comments which supported her “ I fell in love with Peyton, but falling in love with Hilarie has been even better. Thank you for being a wonderful ally to our community. You put others before yourself even when it comes to your career. I can’t wait to see all your future projects because you are amazing” and appreciations like this “Thank you for standing up for us, Hilarie. We need more allies like you”. Likewise, other people were not so happy about the ads and her support “Can you please stop insisting on “interracial couples”? That’s not the Hallmark of diversity/inclusion, contrary to popular belief. It’s okay to include non-white characters in the cast, in relationship with a partner from their group.”
A part of the conservative American Family, the One Million Moms, asked Hallmark to stop airing the ads. According to the official respond regarding these kinds of ads, “The debate surrounding these commercials was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value.”
On Sunday night, Hallmark apologized for those commercials and announced that they would be working with GLAAD and, according to them, “to represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands better.” They added, “Hallmark will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.”
On the other hand, Hallmark didn’t make any comment regarding the allegations of Burton yet.
