UPDATE: He didn’t really say what they said he said.  See below.

Usually, we stay out of spats and dramas when it doesn’t directly pertain to our lives, but this one is close enough that we’ll just make a comment here, and then move on like it never happened.

Al Bundy told TV Guide Canada that he doesn’t think Jane Lynch deserved that Emmy.  Rather, he thought it should have gone to his Modern Family co-star, Sofia Vergara:

“I love Jane, honestly I do,” the Youngstown, Ohio, native said, sitting forward. “I’m dying to star in one of Christopher Guest’s movies alongside her, but I don’t think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. (Sue Sylvester) is just a one-note character.”

Instead, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the actor who once played “briefly, very briefly” for the Pittsburgh Steelers thinks the trophy should have been awarded to co-star Sofia Vergara. “Sofia is just so, so funny,” O’Neill explained with a twinkle in his eye. “I don’t think people realize how hilarious she is. She’s so sharp with her wit, it’s amazing.”

Now, don’t get us wrong, we love love love Sofia Vergara – she is so funny! – and Al is entitled to his biases (clearly, we are), but c’mon.  This is the sort of thing you think to yourself, but don’t really say out loud to a magazine.  You say it in the shower, in the mirror, over the water cooler on the set of Modern Family.  You don’t have to put someone down to pick someone up, you know?  Also, isn’t it an awkward thing to put out there if you later want to work with them?  This is how we imagine Al running into Jane at some random function:  ”Hey, Jane, I really love your work, but that award you received for your work?  Yeah, you didn’t really deserve that.  Hey, if Christopher Guest needs someone to play your husband, call me?”

Yeah.  Awkward.

Update: Urgh, again, we just really wanted to let this one die, but fair is fair.  As it turns out, TV Guide Canada did one of those things where you thought you were just paraphrasing someone, but really sort of didn’t.  Kind of.  Ed O’Neill told Entertainment Weekly that he, like us, never in his right mind would publicly say someone else didn’t deserve an award.  TV Guide Canada published the retraction, along with a transcript of what he actually said:

“I’m one of Jane Lynch’s biggest fans. I love Jane Lynch. She is a genius. But at the same time I said ‘Sophia could win’ because … and I’ve only seen Glee a couple of … I’ve only seen Glee once. But I thought Jane’s role is rather one-dimensional. It’s kind of strident. It’s always kind of the same. I’ve seen her be much better. So I thought ‘Sofia’s funnier,’ and I think she is in these two comparative roles. Anyway, Jane won. But I was hoping that Sophia would.”

It sort of is, and is not, what TV Guide said he said.  Ok, whatever, really, this is over.