Lacey Chabert defends Hallmark movies amid Candace Cameron Bure's criticism

Lacey Chabert, who has starred in 35 Hallmark Channel movies since 2010, says she will not be among those actors who have left the basic-cable network because of its programming's diversity, including LGBTQ+ stories.

"I wish everybody the best," the former "Party of Five" ensemble star told New York magazine's Vulture.com website of such departing network regulars as Danica McKellar, Jessica Lowndes and the particularly outspoken Candace Cameron Bure. "I really can’t comment on it further other than I care about everybody involved." As for herself, assured Chabert, 40, “I found a real home in Hallmark.”

Bure, 46, who played D.J. Tanner on the 1987-95 ABC sitcom "Full House" and the 2016-20 Netflix sequel "Fuller House," and had starred in a string of Hallmark Christmas movies through last year, told The Wall Street Journal last month that she jumped ship to the much smaller, Christian-oriented Great American Family because Hallmark "is a completely different network than when I started."

Specifying that she was referring to such issues as religion and diversity, Bure — who was named her new network's chief creative officer — said, “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core." Conversely, Hallmark on Dec. 11 aired "The Holiday Sitter," its first original Yuletide movie centered on a gay romance. A spokesperson for Hallmark told The Wall Street Journal, “We want all viewers to see themselves in our programming and everyone is welcome."

"Any shift I’ve felt has been embracing our creative ideas," Chabert, a star of the Lindsay Lohan high school classic "Mean Girls," told Vulture. "And it’s my responsibility to the audience who continue to tune into my movies that I give the best I have to offer. That’s always my mission. I’ll never abandon what Hallmark means for me, which is that everything is centered around the heart. I don’t think there are any plans for that to change anytime soon."