Modern Family: The Only Thing Fans Can't Stand About Phil
"Modern Family" is full of memorable and hilarious characters, giving fans several options for their favorite. Many fans' favorite character is Phil Dunphy, played by Ty Burrell, the father of Haley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter), Luke (Nolan Gould), and the husband of Claire (Julie Bowen).
There's a lot to love about Phil: he's a great father — even if he sometimes struggles to take care of the household when Claire isn't there — as well as a supportive and loving husband to her. Phil and Claire clearly love each other very much and have a great relationship, with each of them always being there for the other; Phil is quick to pick up the slack around the house when Claire decides to run for city council, for example. Plus, he has some of the most hilarious lines of the series, and the list of great Phil Dunphy moments is nearly endless.
However, despite how much fans love Phil, they have one gripe: his occasional inappropriate behavior toward Gloria (Sofía Vergara). It's no secret in the "Modern Family" world that Gloria is considered extremely attractive, and Phil, even though he loves Claire, sometimes succumbs to his attraction to Gloria by behaving inappropriately toward her — even when Claire is around. For example, in one scene, Phil compliments Gloria's dress ... then uses that as an excuse to feel her. Or, there are several moments where Gloria gets into a fight with Jay's ex DeDe — and Phil shouts, "I got Gloria!" and uses the situation as an excuse for physical contact with her. These moments don't sit right with fans of the show.
Fans think Phil's behavior is disrespectful toward Claire
On Reddit, one fan posted a compilation of moments of Phil making comments about Gloria or somehow showing he's attracted to her and asked other fans if they thought it was disrespectful toward Claire — and the overwhelming majority of fans said that it was. One user, u/strawberrylipsticks, wrote, "Definitely disrespectful and weird, i love phil but it was my least favorite thing about his character." And u/pnerd314, chimed in to call Phil's behavior both cringe and creepy. Further, u/nihilism_ornot expressed their discontent: "I HATED that part of his character." And plenty of fans brought up the fact that Claire is attractive as well, making the Gloria crush situation even worse — for example, u/lilpencilsharpener wrote, "Claire is gorgeous, I don't see why he had to drool over Gloria so much."
Many fans brought up an episode in which Phil lets an old friend think that Gloria is his wife when he and Gloria are at the mall together — only for the old friend to admit that he always thought Claire was a catch and that whoever married her is a lucky man. After that, Phil seemingly snapped out of it and spent the rest of the episode telling Claire how lucky he is. Referring to this episode, u/numberthirteenbb wrote, "Phil doesn't see Claire as lustworthy until it's shown to him through another man's gaze."
However, many fans also brought up the fact that, after this episode, the inappropriateness seemed to be toned down. One user, u/SuperSkiiz, described it as such: "It started as creepy and inappropriate. It turned into more of a crush situation."