On Sunday night, Hallmark Card president and CEO Mike Perry offered up an apology to wedding planner website Zola after the Hallmark Channel removed four commercials that featured a same-sex wedding.  See previous story here, and as many soap fans  several former favorites from daytime are hired as actors consistently by the network for their movies,

In a statement, Perry shared: “The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused. Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives. Anything that detracts from this purpose is not who we are. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused. … Across our brand, we will continue to look for ways to be more inclusive and celebrate our differences.”

Then, on the companies corporate website another statement was served up expressing:  “That is is, and always has been, committed to diversity and inclusion — both in our workplace as well as the products and experiences we create. It is never Hallmark’s intention to be divisive or generate controversy. We are an inclusive company and have a track record to prove it.”

That post talked about how the company has LGBTQ greeting cards, and goes on to say how the company has been recognized as one of the Human Rights Campaigns Best Places to Work, and as one of Forbes America’s Best Employers for Diversity.   You can read that statement in full here.

GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said on the the reinstatement of the ads: “The Hallmark Channel’s decision to correct its mistake sends an important message to LGBTQ people and represents a major loss for fringe organizations, like One Million Moms, whose sole purpose is to hurt families like mine. LGBTQ people are, and will continue to be a part of advertisements and family programming and that will never change. GLAAD exists to hold brands like The Hallmark Channel accountable when they make discriminatory decisions and to proactively ensure families of all kinds are represented in fair and accurate ways.”

So, what do you think about Hallmark’s apology? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

We all know that many former soap stars are currently appearing, or have appeared in Hallmark Channel movies, and Christmastime is the cable outlets busiest season where they roll about several romance-themed offerings.

This weekend alone, DAYS alum, Jen Lilley (Ex-Theresa) and GH alum, Matt Cohen (Ex-Griffin) are in two of them  However, on Saturday the channel became under fire for removing an ad from Zola.com which featured two brides kissing in a same-sex wedding moment.

Zola.com is a wedding planning and registry company, and in this version of their ads, it showed two women exchanging wedding vows and then sharing a kiss celebrating their union.  The ad was one of six that had been running on the channel since December 2nd.

Enter conservative group  One Million Moms. The group launched a petition to get the network to pull the commercial along with any other LGBTQ related-content.  According to the group, they had 27,000 people sign it.   On their website, the ‘Moms” group posted: “Parents need to know they could now come face-to-face with the LGBT agenda when they sit down to watch the Hallmark Channel.”

Next, Hallmark Channel caved  to the conservative group and removed the ad saying it was in violation of their policy.  They added to The Hollywood Reporter: “The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value.”  Zola countered with their own statement, pulling any and all advertising from the network: “All kisses, couples and marriages are equal celebrations of love and we will no longer be advertising on Hallmark.”

A Hallmark spokesperson added: “The decision not to air overt public displays of affection in our sponsored advertisement, regardless of the participants, is in line with our current policy, which includes not featuring political advertisements, offensive language, R-rated movie content and many other categories.”

GLAAD fired back with a statement from CEO Sarah Kate Ellis: “The Hallmark Channel’s decision to remove LGBTQ families in such a blatant way is discriminatory and especially hypocritical coming from a network that claims to present family programming and also recently stated they are ‘open’ to LGBTQ holiday movies. As so many other TV and cable networks showcase, LGBTQ families are part of family programming. Advertisers on The Hallmark Channel should see this news and question whether they want to be associated with a network that chooses to bow to fringe anti-LGBTQ activist groups, which solely exist to harm LGBTQ families.”

In some additional tweets on social media which find many calling for a complete boycott of the channel, The Ellen DeGeneres Show account tweeted: Isn’t it almost 2020? @hallmarkchannel @billabbottHC … what are you thinking? Please explain. We’re all ears.”

General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) tweeted: “Sweet Jesus!…who ironically I hear does not get the Hallmark Channel due to its content, but instead binge watches @BritishBakeOff due to the joyful inclusivity… and of course the cake.”

Saturday Night Live took aim at the cable network with guest co-host Scarlett Johansson with the game, A Winter Boyfriend for Holiday Christmas, a Hallmark dating show – said to be created by the algorithm that makes Hallmark holiday movies. In it, Johansson was the’ bachelorette’ having to choose between three eligible bachelors which took aim at all the lack of racial diversity in Hallmark’s Christmas movies, and more.

Now below, watch the ad that is the center of the controversy below, followed by the SNL spoof of the channel.

In the comment section, let us know what your thoughts are on the decision by Hallmark to pull the wedding planning ad, and what you think of the networks movie content formula which clearly lacks diversity and inclusion.

B&B fans worldwide follow the exciting international career of legacy series star, Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke).  As Lang had detailed recently on her social media posts, she was recently in Greece taping 16 episodes on the greek soap opera 8 Lexeis.

The series star of 8 Lexeis is Andreas Georgiou, and now he has come to Los Angeles to appear on Katherine’s soap, The Bold and the Beautiful.

Andreas had been documenting his trip to Los Angeles and CBS Television City  (where B&B is taped) on his Instagram account.  One shot is with B&B icon, John McCook (Eric), and there are others with Lang and her beau, Dom Zoida, and more.

Jennifer Gareis (Donna) also posted a group photo from the set with Andrea and actors from the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful.

No word yet on when Andreas will air on B&B, or what part he will play, but stay tuned for more intel as it becomes available.

So, what do you think of B&B continuing its international reach bringing Andreas to the series for a guest visit? Comment below.

 

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Τα πρώτα γυρίσματα ξεκίνησαν♥️ #8lexeis #boldandbeautiful @boldandbeautifulcbs #andreasgeorgiou✔ @georgiou82

A post shared by ᴀɴᴅʀᴇᴀꜱ ɢᴇᴏʀɢɪᴏᴜ ꜰᴀɴ ᴘᴀɢᴇ✨ (@andreas.georgiou_fp82) on Dec 10, 2019 at 2:02am PST

 

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Break στο καμαρίνι, με τον θρυλικό Ερικ! #8lexeis #boldandbeautiful @boldandbeautifulcbs #andreasgeorgiou✔ @georgiou82 @koulisnikolaou

A post shared by ᴀɴᴅʀᴇᴀꜱ ɢᴇᴏʀɢɪᴏᴜ ꜰᴀɴ ᴘᴀɢᴇ✨ (@andreas.georgiou_fp82) on Dec 12, 2019 at 1:16am PST

 

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Οι μεγάλες συναντήσεις στο LA🧡 #8lexeis #boldandbeautiful #andreasgeorgiou✔ @georgiou82 @koulisnikolaou @goat5.6 @katherinekellylang

A post shared by ᴀɴᴅʀᴇᴀꜱ ɢᴇᴏʀɢɪᴏᴜ ꜰᴀɴ ᴘᴀɢᴇ✨ (@andreas.georgiou_fp82) on Dec 9, 2019 at 1:21am PST

 

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Lucky us!! We got a visit from the famous Greek star Andreas from the European series #8lexeis @boldandbeautifulcbs @dondiamont @katrinakbowden @bbheathertom @georgiou82 @aarondspears @theedarinbrooks @cbsdaytime

A post shared by Jennifer Gareis (@jennifergareis) on Dec 12, 2019 at 7:23am PST