Fellow 80's stars slam Kirk Cameron
Former ‘Growing Pains’ actor thinks critics of his gay marriage comments are ‘funny’
Former child star Kirk Cameron stirred controversy in Hollywood when he declared homosexuality to be “unnatural,” “detrimental” and “ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization” to gossip show host Piers Morgan.
In response to Cameron’s comments, some of his ‘80s and ‘90s sitcom contemporaries banded together to star in a mock PSA video as members of CCOKC: Child Celebrities Opposing Kirk Cameron on the comedy web site “Funny or Die.”
The video, which has had well over one million views in less than a week, pledges to “raise awareness about a serious threat to our civil rights–Kirk Cameron’s stupid opinions.”
“A friend of ours who is gay had been posting some responses to Kirk on YouTube, and then we had the lightbulb idea to do this,” Brice Beckham, who starred the ‘80s sitcom “Mr. Belvedere,” and spearheaded the video, explained to Fox411.com. “This just seemed like a way to poke fun at an idea we don’t agree with.”
WATCH: Cameron's interview with Piers Morgan.
On “Fox & Friends,” Cameron stood by his original comments, calling out Morgan for bringing up the topic of gay marriage in the first place.
“When you’re sitting across the table from someone who knows what your perspective is on issues–and I’ve been very consistent, I don’t think anything I said surprised anybody as a Bible-believing Christian," he said. "But to then take some answers, reduce an important and personal and sensitive issue to a four-second sound bite and toss it into a community to start a political bonfire and really upset people that you’re saying that you’re looking to protect – I think is disingenuous.”
And while he may be disappointed in Morgan, Cameron isn’t particularly irked by his ‘80s colleagues’ video, Fox411.com has learned.
[pullquote]
“When Kirk heard about the spoof, he didn’t have any bad feelings – in fact, he thought it was funny,” a source explained. “He doesn’t hate anybody.”
Hopefully, Cameron has a thick skin, because CCOKC round two is just around the corner: tee-shirts and a blooper reel are coming soon.
“We’re working on printing up some CCOKC tee-shirts for sale, with the proceeds going to a gay rights organization,” Beckham told Fox411.com. “And we’re possibly doing a follow-up video with outtakes from the shoot.”
Indeed the actors in original the “Funny or Die” video are not backing down one bit.
“If your personal beliefs incite hate speech or persecution of an entire group of people – perhaps that opinion is best kept to yourself,” Christine Lakin, who starred in the ‘90s hit “Step by Step,” told FoxNews.com.
“I’m supportive of Kirk Cameron and his right to say anything he wants to say within the limits of our First Amendment, but there’s a line, and I think he came close enough to the line of hate speech,” added Keith Coogan, star of the 1987 film, “Adventures in Babysitting.”
Since the video premiered, the actors say they have received both positive and negative feedback from friends and fans.
“Everyone I know loved it, except for my cousin who has since disowned me,” said Josie Davis, who starred on “Charles in Charge” in the ‘80s. “I won’t even quote the negative thing she said. I responded, ‘Thanks for sharing!’ and then she unfriended me on Facebook.”
“I got my first hate mail from it, which was nice,” said Coogan sarcastically. “I immediately emailed Brice after it came out and I was like, ‘You really stirred up a s**tstorm.’”
Davis thinks the haters should lighten up.
“People are forgetting is that this is supposed to be funny – it’s called ‘Funny or Die,’” said the star of “Sonny” with James Franco. “It's just a good message promoting love and it's not slamming people for being gay. It’s not anti-Christian.”
Coogan believes the debate on the subject of gay marriage is invaluable.
“I love that there’s been a discussion and a conversation started about it, I think that’s the most important thing,” said the grandson of the legendary Jackie Coogan. “But I didn’t expect any of that when Brice asked me, ‘Would you be interested in being a part of this video.’ I had no idea it would exist outside the ‘Funny or Die’ universe. I thought maybe it would get a couple thousand hits.”
Cameron has no official comment on the video, but his rep does tell FoxNews.com that “Kirk is focusing on his film ‘Monumental’ which continues to do extremely well in theaters.”