The latest edition of SiriusXM show “The Six Pack” featured a very interesting interview with actor Alan Thicke.

The one-time Growing Pains dad said he was in close contact with Kirk Cameron all the way through the controversy that erupted in the wake of the latter’s remarks about gay marriage and homosexuality. And that he privately warned his former co-star not to take any jokes he might make too seriously. Overall, Thicke confided to Cameron, he respects the actor’s right to his own opinions.

Thicke also addressed the social media and Internet backlash that followed Cameron’s appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight:

“I was astonished at all the hate-mongering, venom-spewing vitriol that I saw. Going both ways, in both directions. It wasn’t only the incredibly hypocritical Christian wing who was calling me names, really vicious mean ugly kind of commentary, for my support of the gay and lesbian community. On the other hand, the gay and lesbian community attacking Kirk and all evangelicals and people of faith, that wasn’t right.”

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In a recent appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight, Kirk Cameron condemned homosexuality, calling it “unnatural” and “destructive to… civilization.”

Cameron certainly didn’t pick that up from the Seavers. His former TV parents, Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, are outspoken supporters of gay rights, as are Growing Pains siblings Tracy Gold and Leonardo DiCaprio. Gold responded to Cameron’s statements on Twitter:

Thicke has also used Twitter to respond to his former TV son’s anti-gay statements. And he’s been having some fun with it: