Well…I loved this post. Sometimes things are not as black and white as they seem. I do agree, Melissa should clarify.

I’m beginning to think that the definition that some people use for the word “tolerance” is that means we have to agree with their point of view, otherwise you’re called all sorts of names to shame you into accepting the point of view, or at least into silence.

If we look at the actual definition it is “the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.”

So, folks, how about starting to be tolerant of people like Missy Reeves instead of bullying them into silence?

too late.

I hope that America soon becomes “ok” with gay marriage. It became legal in July of 2005 here in Canada, and our country has not suffered because of it. In fact, it has made our country more united. I hope that America can soon find the same acceptance.

I think this kind of dialogue between people is exactly the kind of good that comes out of the negative, so I’m quite happy. I knew that Scott Reeves, Melissa Reeves, Steve Burton, and his wife, and a handful of other soap stars are (or at least were) conservative Christians. Some, like Burton and Austin Peck started out being really vocal about it and have since focused on the work and, in my opinion, lightened up, and others have been fired for pushing their beliefs on anyone who would listen on set or in the press (I remember it happening to an actor on ATWT, and there were rumors that it happened to Peck on DAYS), and still others like the Reeveses occasionally mention it, but haven’t made it central to their professional identity in years. I say that because that’s all we have a right to, in my opinion, their professional identity. Tweets are an interesting hybrid for me. I actually enjoy the peek into the actors lives a bit, and recognize that they are more expressing themselves and less trying to get me to think or feel anything (which is not their right or their business–and is my only problem with evangelical Christians who constantly tell me that despite the fact that I go to mass every week, sometimes more, and pray every day, the fact that I am pro-gay and Catholic makes me destined for hell. It pisses. me. off.) Thus when I know that Nancy Grahn is a liberal and suspect Laura Wright is conservative (from some of the links she shares and/or books she praises), it’s a welcome peek into seeing them as real people. Remember, Twitter is completely OPT IN (you choose to follow them because you want to know what they think–you have no guarantee you will like or agree with everything they think) and like life, we are enriched by people who have different beliefs and feelings than us. Some of my best friends are different than I am and I learn by not resisting but instead listening to how they got to their beliefs–and sometimes I even alter my own based on what I’ve learned and vice-versa. And all of my truly BEST friends are like that–you can’t put them in one political or ideolgoical box because they think for themselves. Just when you think you can predict what they will think on X, they surprise you with Y. So this dialogue is good. And the understanding that you aren’t a bigot for disagreeing. And most importantly the reminder that a lot of us jump into these public fights without knowing all the facts–just as Missy Reeves apparently did. She, like a lot of my conservative friends, thought the Chick-Fil-A thing was about free speech. Many of Chick-Fil-A’s supporters and political backers made it out to be that way. Many of my own conservative friends had NO idea that it had very little to do with one man’s opinion and right… Read more »

Chick -fil -A had a wonderful strategy, look at all the business they got after the fact……..That was one of the best business tactics I have seen in years. He should be commended for all his efforts……..Other business’s may follow suite, we’ll have to see.

Disaapointed in Crystal., covering for a friend. What both are saying does not add up if you look at Reeves’ later Twitter comments. Now that Jack is gone, I hope they write her out. The actress has a primadonna history and has not brought anything to any storyline of late. Hey, but what I am saying is just free speech, right Missy?

Melissa sent that tweet out so she can certainly clear the air…is she THAT upset?? I give credit to Chappell for digging deep and finding out some answers. I just seriously doubt Reeves didn’t know the full truth of what she was tweeting about. She was pretty direct with what she said….why can’t she issue a response? Even her husband Scott has been silent too…and he’s got out boss’ at GH. Days was enjoying great press in regards to the Will storyline and then this hit the fan. While I appreciate Crystal looking into this, I would have hoped Reeves herself would have spoken out.

Go crystal way to stand up for missy reeves and tell what missy real intention was. You are upstanding woman and actress. And unlike greg rikkart you handled like a mature. Adult and concern friend. Her speaking the truth from her heart and cause a rage piranha to come after her and her family.

Well, I am not sure I can believe Melissa. I do not know her personally. So I can only try to understand from actions or lack thereof.

I get that she may have been clueless as to what exactly she was supporting with that tweet. What I do not get is the blocking of people who tweeted her respectfully (yes, I am one of them). Furthermore, people who have supported and interviewed her a lot over the last decades have been blocked.

That to me was very ostrich-like and ignorant. And taking that into account, I can believe that Melissa is a bigot, and a bully too.

Speaking out now would be too little too late for me. I am afraid I would view it as damage control without real conviction.

Mis-Tweeting doesn’t exactly add up with actual tweet: “Chick-fil-A today!!!! Loved every bite of it;)!! Land of the free and home of the brave. Love that we all appreciate free speech, right?” But oh well, no use making this about Melissa Reeves (I would hate to see her play the victim) when it’s the ISSUES that matter. In the end, MR is just a small part and the real problem(s) is just so much bigger. I’m sick of hearing about MR’s tweet; the issues should get this much coverage! Maybe that would HELP to make a difference in a world/society where equality is often measured in $$$ and people don’t really matter as much as the bottom line.

Words and actions have consequences.I believe her twitter post was both cryptic and incendiary. If Melissa was comfortable voicing, what she believes was her support of freedom of speech, then Melissa should have the courage to speak on her own behalf in regards to her twitter post. Additionally, she should also explain why she chose to block followers, specifically those (i.e. Greg Rikaart amongst several) who respectfully questioned the meaning behind her tweet. Furthermore, since this fiasco she has also opted to privatize her twitter feed. This is not time for silence.

I never for one minute thought Missy was supporting hate groups or an anti gay groups. I found her tweet completely harmless. However, I did find the tweets to her extreme bullying and disgusting. As to Mr Riikart’s blog I found it passive aggressive in it’s bullying. Who is Greg Riikart to expect Missy to respond to him? “I reached out” garbage. As to Miss Chappell, Missy DID follow up her original tweet when the hate came her way with an explanation that she was supporting free speech. But she was called a liar by twitter respondents and Mr Riikart himself suggested she was trying to cover her backside after the fact. WHY should she again explain herself and open herself up to more of the same from Mr Riikart and the bullies amongst the gay community? AND PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST THEY DON’T EXIST. Missy’s twitter account is evidence it do. I do not know Missy in fact I’ve never met her, but I do follow her and know she finds it impossible to hate. She is always loving and positive in her tweets. I will continue to support Missy’s right to feel how she feels and not say another word in the same way I continue to support the gay community and their right to marry. But Mr Riikart and Ms Chappel need to STFU and leave it alone now.

The only bully in this story is Greg R. Why does he feel the need to question a fellow actor on her support for a company? The folks who scream the loudest about tollerance are the most intollerant when it comes to Christians.

Too bad Mellisa feels the need to backtrack now that her so called friends in the entertainment business decided she is a bad person for defending what she believe as a CHRISTIAN. She is not advocating homosexuals be beaten up and killed. Goodness let the woman be.

If Greg R. is so pro gay why has he been hiding in the closet for so long? It is his business so let others have their business without his two cents. Hypocrite.

BTW I hate that CC had to speak for MR when if it really mattered that much (to MR) she could have spoke for herself. Fans would have appreciated that. If you truly “mis-tweeted” why wouldn’t you just SAY SO? CC, please let MR and others fight their own battles, don’t damage your own standing for a person like MR who says she believes in Free Speech and then refuses to SPEAK when she “claims” she was misunderstood. What’s so hard to understand about Chick-fil-a giving money to groups that target gays when they could be giving that money to do something good, say, like feeding the hungry (you sell FOOD, after all!), helping the homeless … just doing GOOD.

If Missy supports “freespeech” then she should speak up for herself unfortunately at this point it may be to little too late. She could at still say she is sorry that her tweet was miscontrued.

I can’t read anymore of this it is yesterday’s news and people need to move on. Each day individuals on this site become more and more inapropriate, rude and disrespectful. They all have expressed their opinions as they have the right too. Right side is always going to be right side as left will be left. The middle the middle, stop bickering already grow up and truely respect opinions even if different than yours. I’m done here. Thank you.

I agree Greg is the bully. he was calling her names instead of
Seeing her side and discussing her views. My best friend
Is a nearly sixty year old gay man. We have these discussions
And sometimes heartedly but we never call names and we always
Still love each other. Hollywood needs to stop the nasty name
Calling and discuss.

given the fact that MR blocked almost everyone that tweeted her after her stupid “YEAH I ATE CHICkEN tweet” she deserves whatever comes her way, imo. CC writes a blog about it? Ok…but Melissa was way too silent and her hubby was way too “I’m proud of my wife”. To close her account while quoting god is so sad and so dramatic. She’s obviously oblivious.

Enough of this good “Christian” garbage!!! You people are the biggest hypocrites going!

and again the bullies come out.. SHE DID TWEET THAT SHE WAS SUPPORTING FREE SPEECH AFTER SHE WAS ATTACKED. She blocked because how many times does she need to exlain herself? Yet as I pointed out she is still called a liar…as evidenced above. She said posted her tweet and then clarified it when questioned. GIVE IT UP PEOPLE there is no more mileage for the movement to be had by bullying her anymore.

Glad Crystal is standing up for her friend…but Melissa’s silence does nothing to help her. I respect someone more for admitting their mistakes…

Also, I hate that this needs to come up every time we have these discussions, but the right to free speech in the country is very specific–and ONLY applies to the GOVERNMENT involving itself in citizen’s speech. It is perfectly legal and okay for people (including large portions of the public) to let a business, celebrity, person, newspaper know as loudly as they want (within harrassment and stalking laws, of course) that they don’t approve. They can organize boycotts, picket outside the store to inform people of the businesses position, and write strongly worded (and sometimes offensive) things about them on the Internet. When there was backlash against Dr. Laura’s offensive tirade, many said her firing was people restricting her free speech, and here neither Dan Cathy/Chick-Fil-A, nor Melissa Reeves had their free speech impinged in ANY way. I hate the kind of speech that is out there, especially on the Internet. And threats are too far–and I hope Missy Reeves is reporting each one to the police–but she can say what she wants and people can react in ANY way they want, and none of it has anything to do with free speech, which is a constitutional right that protects us ONLY from the Government supressing our speech. It’s important that we speak out against what is wrong with this but also that we don’t claim it is anything more than it actually is.

I’m not going to judge her but having seen her posts in the past, she has never said a hateful comment about anyone… and then she makes one comment – I fully believe without knowing exactly what Chickfila was doing – and gets slammed. She has already spoken/apologized to those that she cares for, that matter to her. Why should she respond to hateful comments attacking her, her family and her beliefs? Losers are bringing up her past and throwing that in her face and she owes THEM an apology? I can bet 99% of those attacking her have said or done way worse to others. They don’t deserve anything. Melissa Reeves knows what is in her own heart and God knows what’s in hers as well as EVERYONE ELSE.

Cannot believe the dust up over this. For those that say this is about the CFA money trail and not the CEOs opinion, please get real. CFA has been donating to these orgs for years and why no comment about it before now? Is it still okay to be of the OPINION that marriage is the domain of a man and a woman? Or if you are of that opinion or even support someone’s right to state that OPINION, do you risk having vile and juvenile communications strewn your way? I support gay marriage. However the vile and hateful response to Missy’s tweet leaves me to wonder. Way to get that dialogue going and win folks to your side. Seeing an awful lot of MLK quotes lately. Did you know he was an adulterer too!!??? Chappell entering the frey to try and explain someone else’s behavior is not helpful. Let Missy speak for herself and if she chooses not to, that’s her choice.

Not buying this. She’s either playing some PR game which is a total FAIL because she could have explained this story days ago or she’s really that unthinking to post about an issue she has no understanding of. Either way, she looks bad.

You know, we only know about Chick-Fil-A but how many other restaurants you eat at and stores you shop at that believe in the same thing? All those that are bashing Missy for one Twitter comment better be careful, because next week that favorite place you’ve been supporting might just turn up on the same list as Chick-Fil-A then what are you going to do?? She has the right to her own opinion and I strongly believe she meant no harm to anyone; just didn’t know all the facts. People keep saying she’s a religious bully, well guess what, there are plenty of groups — gays included that can bully just as much! Quit acting like saints.

you know, I went to watch both “events” at the Chic-full of it near my house… it was obvious that there are people who know exactly what the guy said, even if he didn’t say it, pardon the pun, straight out. They seemed gleeful as they strolled out of the place yelling “yeah! freedom of speech!”

it was equally as obvious, that there are a lot of really dumb, uneducated people out there that came to shout stupid stuff to the gay people (that came to protest where Chic-full of it donates money while still calling themselves good Christians.)

Two examples of what I heard that day: a woman leaned out her car window and shouted “I came from 2 straight parents! Where the *!##! did you come from?” (what?! did you not study biology like the rest of your class?)

second thing: a man obvious not to know a thing of what was really going on, walked up to the guys/gays and angrily said ” I just don’t understand why you’re out here trying to convert people.” I giggled, I thought he just had to be joking. Oh no. He was quite serious. He really thought the group was out there to convert people to “gayness”. I have to give points to the man who answered him, without laughing, that no, they were not out to convert people, they were actually protesting where Chic ful A donates money… of course being wrong about what was going on made the nut angrier and he stormed off sayig “that’s B#@! S#!@” over and over.

maybe he thought he could convert…. and get the free toaster! 😉

the people who say they are in support of the guy’s freedom of speech would get very angry if some company’s exec would say they like white people better, or women should stay home with kids…..

Freedom of Speech comes with a small disclaimer that a lot of people forget: use with caution, sensitivity and careful responsibility..

Bull is what I think of Melissa Reeves “explanation”. She is NOT that naive. She knew full well what she was doing, hence the “wink” at the end of her tweet. I guess she didn’t realize what she was doing she she got involved in the rumored scandal backstage at DAYS all those years ago that resulted in her being forced off the show and banished to the hills of Tennessee for years. Wink on that!

Are you kidding me? Did Dan Cathy say that he hated gay people? Did he wish them harm? He expressed a viewpoint on marriage that is in complete alignment with his beliefs as a Christian. Whether we like it or not, many people believe the bible. Some may not agree with it, but there are people who live and breathe this.

The politicians who have spoken out on this issue and have gotten their opportunist mugs in front of the camera and calling this hate speech and saying crazy things like ChickFilA is not welcome in their cities, blah blah. GTFOH!! He stated that he believes in the traditional definition of marriage. Calling this hate speech cheapens the definition and makes these politicians look like pandering fools.

Twitter is akin to freakin middle school. This fake controversy proves the point. Folks who seek an apology, get over it! An apology for what?? For believing what she believes??? Why would you even want that?? I try to keep an open mind in all things. But, I cannot abide attacking someone who does not share my world view. Agree to disagree and move on.

Crystal a very good friend. The guy from Young and Restless is the real Bully. I will not watch because of him.
He is hurting soaps.
People who claim Melissa Reeves is a bully they are hipocrates because they are the bullies.
The bullies are attack her husband band of great people.
Melissa Its easy to stand with a crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.

I wonder if Crystal feels let down after now seeing Melissa’s tweet.

We all need to stop and realize that world does not revolve around us and juding mreeves on her beliefs does not better you or me. I agreed with her many levels and i am christian.

I believe Melissa is sincerely sorry, and we should forgive her and move on from here. I’m sure we all have made the same mistakes before. I know I have. 🙂

One last word as a gay Christian man. If we got this worked up over child abuse and harnessed our collective outrage into action, our children would be a heck of a lot more safe. Honestly, the whole Missy Reeves thing is so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Quit spending so much time looking for reasons to be freaking offended. Did you know that there are over 20 million men who have been abused in our country in the worst possible way? Did you know that there is an incident of child abuse reported every ten seconds? Really, we need to concentrate on the things that matter, because if we don’t start looking at keeping our children safer to those who would do them harm, they won’t live to see the day they can get married, or they will be afraid to be married because they’re so screwed up from what happened to them.

I am completely uninterested in the “christian” beliefs of a woman who has cheated on her husband.

Someone mentioned that Austin Peck is another big time conservative christian….

So soap stars who cheat on their spouses with co-stars is acceptable, but I shouldnt legally be able to marry?!?!?

I applause and give thanks to Crystal Chappell for having a mature rational response to this situation. we should all hope that we would have as true a friend willing to reach out and get clarification and understanding, to be willing to stand up and say that’s not who my friend is or what she believes. Crystal handled this situation with class, respect and dignity for all involved. While I do believe M.R should come forward and clear the air, we all have a duty as friends to stand up for one another and stand up for whats right. Well thought out dialog and communication will open eyes and hearts much faster than name calling and negative behavior. Kudos and much love and respect Mrs. Chappell!

I think it was very nice of Crystal Chappell to take the time to reach out to Melissa Reeves for clarification about her Chick-fil-A tweet. What happened to Melissa in the aftermath of her tweet was nothing short of bullying by Greg Rikaart and his cohorts.

I am not a supporter of gay rights, but I do greatly appreciate Crystal Chappell’s tolerance of persons who have views different from hers. And yes, the President of Chick-fil-A does have a right to free speech as do we all. The so-called “hate groups” that Chick-fil-A is alleged to support are organizations that believe and promote what the Bible teaches about marriage and family.

I do not at all understand why anyone who believes and preaches or teaches what the Bible says about marriage, family, sex, etc. is considered a “hater”. The Bible says what it says, whether anyone believe in the Bible or no. Everyone is free to make his/her on choice on that. Why should persons who believe what the Bible says be called a “hater”? Going by that definition, every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who preaches/teaches the Word of God pure and unadulterated is a “hater”. How ridiculous is that?

If there were more supporters of gay rights like Crystal Chappell who demonstrate common sense as well as tolerance for others who do not share their views, there may not have even been a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. There would have been no need for it. But because of persons like Greg Rikaart and his cohorts, support for Chick-fil-A will continue to grow as an outward protest against such a lack of tolerance.

Its nice of CC to jump to Reeves defense. She needs defending. Her comments implied her support of hate mongering and that she allies herself with their campaign of hate to remove civil liberties from LGBTQ persons. As a member of a show which is currently telling a story of acceptance and tolerance for people who are different, I find her comments contradictory to the values being put forth by Sony and NBC. I hold her responsible and accept no plea of ignorance. Chick-Fil-A has been in the news and of course, she knows that, that is why she showed up with her bible humping family to enjoy the hate-bred chicken. I think Days should hold her to her contract and have her character come out of the closet as a late in life lesbian who crusades for equal rights. Melissa Reeves may verywell have become the most despised woman on daytime.

I don’t understand how anyone can’t see how Missy could have supported free speech. Suporting freedom of speech does not mean you agree with what has been said. I myself made a similar mistake. Because when I was supporting Chic fil a ‘s right to say what they felt, I had no clue that they were supporting hate groups so I can see how Missy didnt know that either. Missy Reeves is also a very religious person, so she believes in that. Doesn’t mean she hates people who don’t follow her religion. I believe in equal rights for gays. And I can say that because of freedom of speech!

ChickFilA is a huge supporter of FamilyResearchCouncil who promote criminalization of homosexuality. What is really slimy is how celebrities and atheletes talk prejudice out of one side of their mouth, couching it in FreeSpeech and the Bible, while claiming not to offend anyone out of the other side of their mouth. That seems the slimyest bit, to put it out there then slither away as if no harm was intended.