Last week, ABC’s The Real O’Neals got some serious unwanted press thanks to the sitcom’s star Noah Galvin going off on a no-holds-barred rant in an interview with Vulture. In the piece, which was apparently set up as an Emmy push by Galvin’s publicist, the 22-year-old, openly gay, actor slammed Arrow star Colton Haynes as “the worst” and his recent coming out as “f*cking pussy bullsh*t,” made remarks about X-Men director Bryan Singer “diddling little boys” (a reference to some since-dropped accusations), and declared Eric Stonestreet’s Modern Family character a “caricature of a caricature.”
As you can imagine, the PR machine quickly went into overdrive and Galvin issued a heartfelt apology, but the damage had been done. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the honchos at ABC were “blindsided” by the interview, and aside from the general controversy, you’d have to think they weren’t super happy about the star of one of their low-rated sitcoms trashing an Emmy-winning star of the network’s longtime flagship sitcom.
In fact, ABC was so super not happy that there were reportedly even rumblings of giving the coming-of-age sitcom a reduced episode order next season, according to THR‘s source. The Real O’Neals only barely survived renewal after having been on the bubble after its first season, getting picked up last month by the skin of its teeth. Apparently an executive producer who was integral in getting the series to air was “begging the network not to take action,” but how Galvin’s remarks will ultimately affect the show remains to be seen.
One thing is for sure, if Galvin doesn’t change his attitude — and quickly — it sounds like his acting career may not be all that long for this world.
And this was not the first such incident involving the actor’s behavior. Insiders say Galvin — a New York native who had only a couple of small acting credits before landing the starring role on Real O’Neals, which is based on sex columnist Dan Savage’s childhood — has been warned multiple times about matters of “ego and entitlement.” One show source says the set likely will be awkward when the cast returns to film season two later this summer: “He caused a grade-A shit show. ABC screamed at him all afternoon.”
Oof. You can only imagine how popular Galvin is with his costars right about now. With any luck, he’ll learn something from this, heaven knows he needs it.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)
