There’s no denying that Modern Family was one of the most progressive and inspired TV shows to debut in over a decade.
That being said, it was still ripe with its share of cringe-worthy moments between all the truly comedic parts of the show.
See for yourself and check out these 10+ times that Modern Family was very problematic.
Gloria has an incredibly low opinion of Peruvians.
While she’s arguing with Jay, Gloria says “Ay, here we go, because in Colombia we trip over goats and kill people in the street. Do you know how offensive that is? Like we’re Peruvians!”
Needless to say, the Peruvian viewing audience likely didn’t find the joke very amusing.
Mitchell and Cameron are pretty homophobic for a gay couple.
On several occasions, subtle hate-filled comments are spewed by both Mitchell and Cameron. This becomes especially pronounced whenever their friend Pepper comes around.
Pepper’s over-the-top flamboyant nature is constantly used for joke fodder.
Phil and Luke act like chauvinistic pigs.
Considering that Phil and Luke live in a household with three women, they share some pretty close-minded and outdated opinions on women’s health.
During the episode where Claire, Haley, and Alex all have their period at the same time, Phil and Luke avoid them as if they were leppers.
Claire often makes fun of Mitchell for being homosexual.
To say that Mitchell and Claire’s relationship is strained would be an understatement.
At numerous times throughout the series, she insults his manhood, pokes fun at his sexuality, and essentially emasculates him at every available opportunity.
Jay is a modern day Archie Bunker.
During a scene from season 3’s ‘Express Christmas’ episode, Jay remarks:
“Look, we gave Express Christmas a shot and it didn’t work out. Whatdya say we just cut our losses? Let’s just go out to a Chinese restaurant for a traditional Jewish Christmas.”
He’s an anti-semite as well as being incredibly homophobic.
If Mitchell and Cameron are so in love, why don’t they ever kiss?
This is probably one of the most frustrating aspects that carried on for the entire series.
You can literally count on one hand the number of times that Cam and Mitchell have shared an on-screen kiss.
When Lily said the f-word.
I, like the majority of people I presume, think that little children swearing is absolutely hilarious.
However, several viewers did not seem to think it was funny at all. The show received heavy backlash for even suggesting a child swearing was somehow appropriate.
Alex slut-shaming her older sister.
Once again, this was something that took place a lot more during the first few seasons of the show. Hardly an episode would pass without Alex making some kind of derogatory comment about her sister’s promiscuity.
Which is ironic, considering how actress Ariel Winter ended up being a victim of slut-shaming trolls herself.
Depicting Claire as a shrill, nagging housewife.
A lot of characters on the show seem to default to old tv tropes and stereotypes: Haley is pretty/stupid. Alex is nerdy but incredibly smart. Luke and Phil are the village idiots, which makes Claire the cold, shrill, unattentive wife.
Maybe they should have called the show Not So Modern Family ?
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Why do Cam and Mitchell seem to hate lesbian women?
What’s really sad is that there is, unfortunately, a lot of misogynistic opinions within the gay community regarding lesbian couples.
Instead of defying the status quo, the show backslid and reinforced one of the ugliest LGBTQ tropes that exist.
Phil’s joke at Lily’s expense.
When Phil first learns Lily’s name in the pilot episode, he says “Lily; isn’t that going to be hard for her to say?”
Phil is mocking Asian accents, implying that because Lily is Vietnamese, she would pronounce ‘Lily’ as ‘Riri’.
When Mitchell was reinforcing black stereotypes.
This was a quick subtle jab that you might have missed. In season 3, when Mitch and Cameron arrive at the boat for Cam’s birthday party, Mitchell comments “I see Longinus got over his fear of water.”
Longinus is their Black friend. Mitchell is playing on the stereotype that Black people can’t swim, hence they are afraid of water.
Cam being racially insensitive to Lily’s Asian pediatrician.
When talking to Lily’s pediatrician, Cam can’t stop himself from blurting out Asian stereotypes, even after being told repeatedly that their doctor is from Denver.
The scene ends with her emphatically saying how she isn’t an Asian stereotype, yet in the very same breath, she reverses her car into the trashcans on the street.
The time that Cam tried to ‘act straight’.
This scene was like watching a car wreck in slow motion.
In this instance, the show reinforced outdated gender and sexual stereotypes that they claimed to be fighting so hard to combat.
Luke ‘talking black’ to his parents.
Luke is an idiot, we all know this to be true. But there’s a fine line between stupidity and ignorance. This was on full display when Luke mistook his father telling him “Don’t talk back to me” with “Don’t talk Black to me.”
“How do you even talk black?” he asks the camera. “End words with ‘izzle’?”