No, 'Modern Family' Isn't Canceled

It looks like Eric Stonestreet's Twitter followers are the latest to fall prey to not realizing that The Onion is a fake, satirical blog. On Thursday, The Onion's new-ish satirical site Clickhole published an article headlined "Whoa: ABC Just Canceled 'Modern Family' In Order To Teach People That Something You Love Can Be Taken From You With No Warning Whatsoever." Eric Stonestreet, who plays Cam on Modern Family, gamely posted the fake article to his Twitter, playing along with the joke with the caption "So sad."

Though that headline is pretty ridiculous, many of Stonestreet's Twitter followers were devastated, leaving comments like "NOOOOOO" and "WTF."

Of course, considering Clickhole is not nearly as well known as The Onion — though it's still just as fantastic — at first glance you almost can't blame them for falling for the joke. However, considering the article that followed as equally as ridiculous as the headline, maybe they really had no excuse after all. Modern Family fans might not have known about the site, but if they'd bothered to click on the link, it should have become pretty clear: Clickhole quoted an ABC executive as saying "it saddens us to cancel a show as beloved as Modern Family, but people need to be taught that having something you cherish suddenly and inexplicably wrenched from your grasp is intrinsic to life." Yeah, that's not how a television network works.

Something similar recently happened to Orange Is The New Black, when lesser-known satirical site Empire News posted about its cancellation. It makes me wonder; does anyone check these stories at other websites, or wonder why it's not bigger news? Let's be savvy consumers of media, people. And always read an article before you repost.

So, no, Modern Family isn't going anywhere. Stonestreet has yet to address the confusion, which — though not all that kind to his fans — is truer to the joke.