Well, that escalated quickly. Candace Cameron Bure defended herself against haters who called her homophobic on social media on Thursday, March 30, after she posted a photo of herself wearing a shirt that read, “Not today, Satan.”
The catch phrase, which was made popular by RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio on season six of the hit VH1 series, immediately caught Del Rio’s eye, and the drag queen took to Instagram to call Bure, 40, out on her faux pas.
“IF ONLY, THIS HOMOPHOBIC, REPUBLICAN KNEW……” Del Rio, 41, captioned a repost of the Fuller House star’s photo, adding to devil face emojis for effect. Aside from using the signature phrase on the show, she has also created merchandise with the phrase on it and even named her tour the Not Today Satan tour.
Del Rio’s fans immediately leapt to her defense and attacked Bure for her post, calling the former View host everything from homophobic to ignorant.
“I was having a great day until I saw this picture,” one commenter wrote. “Makes my stomach turn knowing that gay culture is being appropriated by someone who is not an LGBT ally.”
Wrote another, “You know that’s a quote from a famous drag queen, right? Lol that’s the only reason they’ve made those shirts lately.”
In 2015, Bure caused a stir online after an episode of The View in which she defended an Oregon bakery that refused to prepare a cake for a lesbian wedding. “I don’t think this is discrimination at all,” she said at the time. “This is about freedom of association, it’s about constitutional rights, it’s about First Amendment rights. We do have the right to still choose who we associate with.”
On Friday, March 31, Del Rio posted Bure’s response to the controversy, which she left as a comment on his regrammed picture.
“Why do you have to be nasty to me? You don’t know me or my heart,” the ’90s star wrote. “I’m not homophobic and always sad when people think otherwise. Loving Jesus doesn’t mean I hate gay people or anyone. You sent a bunch of hateful people to my page writing horrible things. I hope next time you’ll spread love and kindness, even when you disagree with people. Sending you love and wish you all the best. Truly. – Candace.”
Bure’s brother, Growing Pains alum Kirk Cameron, has called homosexuality “unnatural” and “destructive” in the past.
