‘Step by Step’ alum Christine Lakin says days before the table read, she suddenly found out she no longer had a role on the ‘Full House’ spinoff series starring Candace Cameron Bure — suspecting past jokes about Kirk Cameron’s anti-LGBTQIA remarks were to blame.
Christine Lakin almost gave fans a TGIF crossover reunion of sorts, until she was purportedly cut from Fuller House at the last minute. According to the Step by Step alum, she was days away from the table read when she got the call it wasn’t going to happen.
Speaking on Friday’s How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast with Fuller House costars Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber, the actress said that all the pieces were falling into place for her to appear on Netflix’s popular sequel series to her ’90s network neighbor on ABC, Full House, after creator Jeff Franklin approached her.
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Jodie Sweetin Seemingly Claps Back at Candace Cameron Bure’s Opening Ceremony Criticism
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Then, just days before she was set to show up for the table read, she got a call from her manager and was told that “something happened” and “they’re not going to need you anymore.” The explanation shifted from a script change to her being let go in the course of one day.
“What did I do wrong?” Lakin asked at the time. “I didn’t even go to a table read.”
Lakin was offered no further explanation, but she has a suspicion what might be the culprit, considering Candace Cameron Bure was one of the original stars of Full House and one of the three leads in the new series, alongside Sweetin and Barber.
“Seven years before [the Fuller House opportunity], I participated in a Funny or Die! video,” Lakin recalled. “At the time, [Kirk] Cameron had said some public things about the LGBTQ community.”
“I thought those were potentially very damaging to the LGBTQ community,” Lakin said on the podcast. “And I was asked to participate with a bunch of other former child actors in this satirical video, sort of calling out these statements. It was funny. Listen, it was a satire, you know?”
Kirk Cameron, of course, is the older brother of Candace, as well as a former child star himself, with his breakout role coming on Growing Pains. Both Camerons are outspoken Christian conservatives who’ve not been shy in sharing their views — often to great controversy.
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In 2012, as recalled by Us Weekly, Cameron called homosexuality “unnatural” and said that same-sex marriage was “detrimental” during an interview appearance on CNN. The satirical Funny or Die! website responded with ’80s and ’90s child actors — including Lakin — calling him out for his comments in a parody video.
“All I can think of is that it created some bad blood,” Lakin speculated of the video and her lost opportunity. “And seven years later, I was not, my presence was not wanted. That’s maybe what I think.”
As for the role that Lakin believed was hers, well that went to actress, and fellow soap opera alum, Virginia Williams. Her turn as C.J. Harbenberger started in Season 2 and recurred throughout the show’s five-season run.
You can check out Christine Lakin’s full two-part interview with Fuller House costars Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber on their How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast below.
