Ed O'Neill Denies Slamming Jane Lynch's Emmy Win

By Sarah Crow Posted Dec 9th 2010 02:30PM

Despite media reports that 'Modern Family' star Ed O'Neill had some harsh words regarding Jane Lynch's 'Glee' Emmy win, the actor is now denying that he said anything of the sort.

Earlier this week, TV Guide Canada reported O'Neill as saying, "I love Jane, honestly I do. I'm dying to star in one of Christopher Guest's movies alongside her, but I don't think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. [Sue Sylvester] is just a one-note character." O'Neill allegedly went on to say that his on-screen wife, Sofia Vergara, would have been a more suitable candidate for the award.

In a statement issued to Entertainment Weekly today, O'Neill disputes the quotes attributed to him, saying, "Last week I spoke to a group of journalists and one quoted me supposedly saying of Jane Lynch, 'I don't think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part.' I never said those words and transcripts of the press conference attest to that fact."

"Of course I root for my dear friends Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen (and all of my colleagues on our show) at Emmy time, but I absolutely never said, nor do I believe that Jane - whom I think is an enormous talent - was undeserving of the award. I reached out to her yesterday to ensure she knew I'd been misquoted but I wanted to clear this up publicly as well."

Although O'Neill's contested quotes are enough to make even thick-skinned Sue Sylvester sneer, Lynch sources say that the actress has shrugged them off. In an email to E! Online, Lynch's rep wrote, "Thanks for being repulsed, but let it go, that's what we're doing."

Meanwhile, TV Guide Canada has issued an apology. "Earlier this week, TV Guide Canada published a story misquoting Ed O'Neill's recent comments about Jane Lynch's Emmy win. Our writer did not mean to misrepresent Mr. O'Neill or anyone else involved in the story. He and TV Guide Canada sincerely apologize for this error."

"Mr. O'Neill's real quote is as follows: 'I'm one of Jane Lynch's biggest fans. I love Jane Lynch. She is a genius. But at the same time I said 'Sofia could win' because ... and I've only seen Glee a couple of ... I've only seen Glee once. But I thought Jane's role is rather one-dimensional. It's kind of strident. It's always kind of the same. I've seen her be much better. So I thought 'Sofia's funnier,' and I think she is in these two comparative roles. Anyway, Jane won. But I was hoping that Sofia would.'"

Tags: Ed ONeill

Comments

(61)

Thursday 09 December

By anon

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Hmmm...the actual quote is not that far off from the contested quote. I think someone is back peddling because his bosses want to protect his image and that of the show.

Friday 10 December

By lakenyc

Yup.

By BTDT

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Never seen either show, but I sure do miss the Bundys.

By tammie

lol how & why are you getting lowest rank? i totally agree. it MAY be worse actually! he goes into detail in the real quote about how janes role on glee kinda stinks. whoa al.

By n e buck

I am always amazed how people are "quoted" Cabt peopel write what you REALLY say-just once..in any venue from entertianment to politics(Excuse me,I forgot,they are now both the same)

By colleen

It's true the statements are similar but "condensed thoughts" are stronger because the soft stuff is taken out and I don't think it is appropriate for a writer to take statements out of context or to change them even if the meaning is the same. That creates fiction writing--different from an interview.

By jimbarry1946

He basically said he wished his co-star had won. That's reasonable.

By Nick

Hey Anon,

Did you say the actual quote is EXACTLY the same as the contested one? And then go on to say O'Neils bosses had to frantically back peddle to save the shows reputation and protect O'Neils reputation for saying things like this and contain the bad blood between the two stars?

No?

Oh, then that must be what they mean when they say "misquoted"...when someone takes the words you actually said and makes it sound like something worse or in a way you didn't intend for it to sound. Do you get it now?

By mike

Vote down Vote up Report this

Ed O'Neil seemed to be trying to be funny-
"and I've only seen Glee a couple of ... I've only seen Glee once."
In this statement he seems to be joking.
And then continues...

Give me a break guys!

M

By Nico Toscani

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

He shouldn't have to apologize for anything. Jane Lynch has played the same character in EVERYTHING she's ever been in. Sometimes it works (Best In Show) and sometimes it doesn't (Glee).

By JUDY

I didn't believe that when I read it. Ed has nerver talked down about anyone and I hope that TVguide makes this right but then there will always be people who believe everything they read so like the spoken word, even in print it can't undo damage that it has done because people like a "cover up" or "back pedaling" story even if it was not said. SOme people believe that if it is in a newspaper it must be true LOL they will never learn,

By Mike

Ya know, Sofia's character doesn't have all that many "notes" either

By D.

Actually, she has plenty of notes, broken ones, like her broken english!

By Ed

Yeah...but she gets the grammy for being HOT !

By waagtod

Who cares? She is sooooo hot!!

By Madame XXX

That's what I was going to say, but you said it for me. In fact, I find Sofia Vergara's character one dimensional and rather annoying, whereas Jane Lynch, whatever her dimension is always interesting.

By steve

keep it up Al Bundy & u'll be back @ the shoe store.
biggest one note character=charlie sheen.

By katie j

lol...he'll always be Al Bundy to me...

By Matt

Yup! He did in fact, if you remember, throw four touchdowns for Polk High in the Championship Game....GO AL!

And he was great in the movie, "Dutch"..........

Page 1 of 4