Kirk Cameron: Piers Morgan's 'Heartless' Interview Made Gay Comments 'Soundbites'
Kirk Cameron said Piers Morgan's "heartless" style of interviewing is what led to his comments on homosexuality and gay marriage being "reduced to four-second soundbites," leading to an incomplete understanding of what he tried to say on the CNN show.
Cameron shared his thoughts in a new interview with the Daily Beast, in which he exposed how Morgan's format led to his much-discussed quip that homosexuality is "unnatural" and "ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization."
"I didn't appreciate the way [Morgan] did it. I thought it was insensitive," said Cameron of Morgan's interviewing style. The host originally told Cameron they would discuss his new film," Monumental," but those questions were conveniently skipped or edited out of the segment, replaced with questions about homosexuality, abortion, same-sex marriage, and other divisive topics. "I thought it was heartless … to take a few subjects, which are very important, he crammed it into a rapid-fire, machine-gun format where my ideas got reduced to four-second soundbites."
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Although Morgan told TMZ that Cameron was "pretty brave" for not backing down on his beliefs, Cameron believes the full meaning of his Christian faith - to love all people, whether sinful or not - was lost in the interview and led to the subsequent outcry from gay advocates.
"If my kid came to me and said 'I'm gay,' I'd say, 'Son, I love you.'" said Cameron candidly. That same question was asked during Morgan's interview as well, but the former "Growing Pains" actor was interrupted repeatedly by Morgan. "That pains me in my heart to think that someone who is gay would think that I don't love them and care about them."
Previously, gay advocacy groups like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) started a Twitter campaign to attack Cameron, telling him to "grow up."
"In this interview, Kirk Cameron sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character," said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs at GLAAD, in a statement. He alleged that "Cameron is out of step with a growing majority of Americans" for his biblical stance on homosexuality.
However, Cameron has said he openly embraced and accepted his longtime friend who admitted his homosexual struggles. "Dude, you know me. I love you. There's nothing you could ever tell me that would make me not love you and care about you," Cameron recalled telling his friend in The Daily Beast interview.
At the same time, though, Cameron cited his Bible-based "convictions" as the source of his faith and beliefs.
"If you press me about how I feel about an issue, you're going to see my convictions. My convictions run deep, as I'm sure yours do. What I love is to sit down and have conversations without calling people names," Cameron told his interviewer.
