Following last Wednesday’s encore episode of "Modern Family", the ABC Network received a letter from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The said episode was a rebroadcast of last year’s Halloween episode in which an insane asylum is featured as a setting for the spooky event. The organization addressed the show’s neglect to give respect to the people who are suffering from mental illness.
As reported by the Daily Mail, six mental health organizations have shown their concern over the Oct. 28th installment of Modern Family – which wrote a storyline mocking the people who suffers from mental illnesses.
Mary Giliberti, the executive director of NAMI, sent a letter to ABC’s Entertainment President Paul Lee earlier this month to once and for all shut down the episode as it is badly affecting the mentally disabled community. Unfortunately, the network wasn’t deterred from all the backlash. The episode still made it to air last Wednesday night.
“After a year of ongoing conversations in which ABC professed to be concerned about negative stereotypes portrayed in its 2014 Halloween episode, "Awesome Land", we are deeply disappointed that ABC intends to re-air the episode this week,” Giliberti wrote in the letter. Kvia.com released her statement.
Gilibert further noted that the episode signals a message that ABC does not consider people with mental defects “to truly be part of its modern family or vision”.
She also expressed how deeply disappointed she was for "Modern Family". She pointed out how the Emmy-winning series which has been “applauded for inclusivity” chooses to neglect towering concerns of the mental health community.
"Modern Family" aired “Halloween 3: Awesomeland” on Oct. 29th of last year. According to the synopsis shared by The Futon Critic, the episode finds Phil (Ty Burrell) taking over the traditional family event so “he decides to turn the house into Awesomeland”.
ABC is being slammed by organizations from the mental health community after airing last Wednesday’s asylum-themed episode of Modern Family. The hit comedy, which hails from co-creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, stars Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen and Sarah Hyland among others.
"Modern Family" airs every Wednesday at 9pm on ABC.
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