'Modern Family' Season 7 Blasted for Over Asylum-Themed Halloween Episode
"Modern Family" season 7 once again came under fire for its Halloween episode, which featured an insane asylum as the setting.
After "Modern Family's" asylum-themed Halloween episode aired on Oct. 28, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) sent the ABC Network a letter complaining about the comedy show's lack of respect to people battling mental illness. The controversial episode was actually a rerun from last year's Halloween season, according to The Venture Capital (VC) Post.
NAMI Executive Director May Giliberti's letter to ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee had earlier called for the show to shut down the episode mocking mentally disabled people, but to no avail. In a statement released by Kvia.com, Giliberti expressed NAMI's disappointment in ABC's intent to still re-air the asylum-themed Halloween episode despite a year-long conversation with the network over their concern about the issue.
Giliberti also urged other people to let ABC know how insensitive and "disrespectful" to the mentally disabled individuals that episode is, the International Business Times (IBT) Australia reports.
"The episode sends a message that ABC does not consider people living with mental illness to truly be part of its modern family or vision," IBC quotes Giliberti's statement. "We hope millions of individuals and families dealing with mental health challenges will join us in letting ABC know how disrespectful its actions truly are."
In the episode titled "Awesome Land," Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) is tasked to decorate their place for Halloween, but he puts up colorful decorations and other things that he thought his family would love. However, when the neighbors start criticizing Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen) over the "lame" decors, she decides to change the theme into the scariest Halloween place by turning it into an insane asylum.
According to Giliberti, the re-airing of the controversial episode only goes to show that ABC has no real concern for the mentally disabled community. Six other mental health organizations have also voiced out their concern over Modern Family's Halloween episode, the report relays.
"Modern Family" season 7 airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
