Candace Cameron Bure Denies Allegations By Trans 'Fuller House' Actor Miss Benny Even Though She Never Named Her
Miss Benny never said who she was speaking about, so why did Cameron Bure jump on the story anyway?
@ihatemissbenny / TikTok; DFree / Shutterstock; Canva Pro "Full House" star Candace Cameron Bure has gone public to speak out against allegations made by trans actor Miss Benny about experiences she says she had on the set of "Fuller House." The move is a bit odd given the circumstances, and has had the opposite effect she likely intended, lending validity to Miss Benny's claims rather than refuting them.
Candace Cameron Bure denies allegations she was homophobic and transphobic on the set of 'Fuller House' following a TikTok from trans co-star Miss Benny.
After recently coming out as trans, actor and singer Miss Benny is hitting something of a career peak, currently starring on Netflix's new series "Glamorous" alongside Kim Cattrall. But her rise hasn't been without its challenges, as she revealed in a recent TikTok.
Miss Benny says one of her earlier roles as Casey on Netflix's 2016 "Full House" reboot, "Fuller House," was far from positive due to incidents of homophobia she experienced on set from an unnamed co-star. Fans of the show, and pretty much anyone familiar with star Candace Cameron Bure's long history of homophobia, have filled in the blanks and assumed the homophobia was perpetrated by her.
In response, just hours after Miss Benny's TikTok went live, Cameron Bure issued a public statement to Entertainment Tonight denying the allegations.
She told the show, "I never asked Miss Benny’s character to be removed from 'Fuller House' and did not ask the writers, producers or studio executives to not have queer characters on the show." It's a strange move on her part, since Miss Benny never named her in the first place.
Miss Benny said a homophobic 'Fuller House' co-star, believed to be Candace Cameron Bure, tried to get her written off the show and that she was warned of retaliation from the co-star's fans.
Miss Benny's TikTok was in response to a fan who asked if it was Candace Cameron Bure who had been homophobic towards her. The actor declined to confirm if the co-star was in fact Cameron Bure, instead saying that "one of the Tanner sisters is, like, very publicly not [supportive of LGBTQ people]" and leaving it at that.
Miss Benny, who was still a teenager at the time her "Fuller House" episodes began shooting, went on to recount being "sat down by the writers and the studio to basically warn me how this person allegedly was trying to get [my] character removed and not have a queer character on the show."
She said she was also "sort of warned and prepared that this person's fan base might be encouraged to target me specifically," a shocking thing for someone so young to have to confront. "The fact that this teenage actor... is suddenly like, a target from an adult is, like, crazy to me," Miss Benny said.
Candace Cameron Bure denies allegations she shunned Miss Benny on set as well. In her TikTok, Miss Benny said that "to this day" she and Cameron Bure have never spoken, which the latter said was because "we didn't share any scenes together, so we didn't get a chance to talk much while filming on set."
Candace Cameron Bure has a history of homophobic statements, which she attributes to her Christian faith.
After a long tenure as one of the reigning queens of the Hallmark Christmas movie, Cameron Bure made waves in 2022 when she announced her departure from the network to sign instead with new network Great American Family, or GAC, a network with deep ties to the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump.
Bure's departure came just weeks after Hallmark announced its first gay-themed Christmas movie, "The Holiday Sitter," starring openly gay "Mean Girls" star Jonathan Bennett.
At the time of her departure, Cameron Bure told The Wall Street Journal that she opted to move to GAC because "I knew the people behind Great American Family were Christians that love the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment."
When The WSJ followed up to ask whether GAC's content would be inclusive of LGBTQ people like Hallmark's, Cameron Bure responded that "Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core," a homophobic by-phrase employed by Christians and conservatives for decades to dismiss same-sex marriage as deviant.
Cameron Bure denied the statement was homophobic at the time, chalking up the uproar that arose to "cancel culture."
Cameron Bure is of course also the sister of far-right Christian Republican activist and former actor Kirk Cameron, who has been publicly and vociferously outspoken about his anti-LGBTQ views, including calling homosexuality "unnatural" in television interviews.
Cameron Bure isn't responsible for her brother's actions, of course, and her move to GAC could be just a simple business decision. But her denial of Miss Benny's claims is a strange move regardless.
Miss Benny's implication of Cameron Bure was clear, but it was still just an implication. If Cameron Bure is genuinely not homophobic and concerned with being viewed as such, why respond to allegations of homophobia that never even officially named her?
It not only makes her seem like she has a guilty conscience, it's also shed far more attention on Miss Benny's claims than ever would have come to them otherwise. The Streisand Effect strikes again.
Whether this flap will do any real damage to her career is an open question, but one thing is for sure: Cameron Bure should fire her publicist.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.