As punishment for his waaaaaaay out of line Vulture interview last week, ABC considered cutting The Real O’Neal’s Season 2 episode order. Star Noah Galvin, you’ll recall, called Colton Hayne‘s coming out “pussy bullshit,” said Eric Stonestreet played “a caricature of a caricature” on Modern Family, and accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of some incredibly libelous things that we can’t even print here.
Sources say ABC was blindsided by the interview, which was set up by Galvin’s personal publicist, Maria Candida, as part of an Emmy push for the young star. According The Hollywood Reporter: Galvin quickly apologized for his “brazen and hurtful comments” on Twitter, but how all of this bad press affects the low-rated bubble series remains to be seen. As the controversy raged, the specter of a reduced episode order arose at ABC, according to one source. An executive producer who had spent four years getting the series on the air was “begging the network not to take action,” says this source. THR went on to note that this wasn’t Galvin’s first run-in with ABC brass. The network reportedly warned him on multiple occasions about his “ego” and sense of “entitlement.” (ABC declined to comment.)
One show source says the set likely will be awkward when the cast returns to film season two later this summer: “He caused a grade-A shit show. ABC screamed at him all afternoon.”
Galvin quickly retracted his statements when he realized the trouble he was in.
“I think Eric Stonestreet is a wonderful actor,” he tweeted a few hours after the interview went viral. “I apologize to everyone I’ve hurt with my comments and understand the damage that has been done. I am new to this and will certainly commit to being more thoughtful and wiser as I navigate all of this moving forward.”
Let’s hope the apology was enough and the whole cast and crew don’t lose his job because this kid hasn’t learned to play the Hollywood game.