“Date My Dad” was a one-season family series that aired on the Uptv network in 2017. Now, Nina Colman has revealed obstacles she faced when trying to represent inclusion and diversity in the show. Turns out that when “Date My Dad” was pitched to Hallmark, they declined to take the series because of an interracial marriage that was featured in the series. While UPtv who picked up the series refused to have one of the characters be openly gay and featured in its anti-bullying episode. Colman shared the details in a social media post this week.
“UP wouldn’t let Matty’s character be out and gay on Date My Dad… they made me cut the whole speech from the ‘bullying episode’ and any reference to it. It was shocking. And then, when Hallmark was thinking of buying the show, they wouldn’t do an inter-racial marriage (Lochlyn and Karen). Pass. No thank you.”
Series co-star Zenia Marshall took to Instagram to share her reaction to the recent revelations.
“Our “Date My Dad” series has been one of the most beloved experiences of my life and I’ll always have eternal gratitude for both UPtv and Hallmark for the opportunities they’ve given me but I feel SO ashamed that in the behind the scenes of our very own show, there was so much discrimination being enforced by these networks. And I’m ashamed myself that when I first read this, my first instinct was to share this information and immediately followed by the worry & stress that I’ll never be hired again by these networks if I do share. But I can’t be a part of this problem by keeping silent. ”
You can view the original Instagram post below.
