Britney Spears' Modern Family Cameo Campaign Unfortunately Didn't Work Out
Nowadays, just a few posted words by a star online can kick off an entire fan campaign. And if there's anyone who knows this to be true, its Britney Spears, with both fans and media hanging on every post she makes, looking for a story.
One slice of excitement that sprung to life came in 2012, when Spears made a seemingly innocent post about her anticipation for Super Bowl Sunday. But it wasn't the game that Spears was looking forward to, it was for the premiere of the new season of "Modern Family" that was airing after the big game. That kicked off a online campaign, with fans hoping to see Spears make a cameo on the ABC hit series one day.
It all started when Spears tweeted "I know everybody is excited about the Super Bowl, but I personally can't wait to see the next episode of Modern Family! Funniest show on TV."
Although it seemed like a simple profession of love for her favorite show, when Sofía Vergara (who played Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the series) re-tweeted the post, it turned a social media spark into a full-on fire. That was when Spears' manager, Adam Leber, dumped a barrel of gasoline, directly tweeting to fans, "Britney Spears on 'Modern Family'? What do you guys think?"
From there, the thread #GetBritneyOnModernFamily was born and the buzz about a potential cameo vibrated through Hollywood. Before long, however, the campaign fizzled out — and the series concluded without the pop star ever joining the credit list. So, what happened?
A picture with Ed O'Neill gave the campaign life
When Spears' mention of "Modern Family" began steamrolling, she certainly didn't ignore the growing fan campaign. Instead, she embraced it.
First, Spears acknowledged the #GetBritneyOnModernFamily trend by replying with, "Ahhhh I would love to be on it!" Then, over on her Facebook wall, Spears posted a screenshot that read: "You all are at it again – look what's trending!" The screenshot was a list of worldwide trends, one of which was the #GetBritneyOnModernFamily campaign that was continuing to grow.
But unfortunately for Spears and her fans, years went by without the cameo ever happening. Occasionally rumors would start back up, such as a few years later, when she posted a picture in 2015 with "Modern Family" star Ed O'Neill. As it turned out, Spears had spotted O'Neill getting ready to board a plane to Hawaii, and she wanted to take the photo together. But the only thing that came out of the encounter was an embarrassing story O'Neill would tell Ellen DeGeneres on "Ellen." According to the former Al Bundy, when the photo was taken, O'Neill had no idea he was with Spears.
O'Neill told DeGeneres that a young woman had approached him and said, "Oh, Mr. O'Neill, I love 'Modern Family,' and you're my favorite on the show." O'Neill agreed to snapping a photo with Spears, but didn't realize the significance of the encounter until his manager later texted him saying "What is this? 53,000 likes? It's Britney Spears!"
Although the picture seemed to once again breathe life into the campaign for a Spears cameo, it never ended up happening. With a spinoff or reboot always a possibility, however, perhaps #GetBritneyOnModernFamily will once again be resurrected.