Fans couldn’t quite figure out what Candace Cameron Bure, 44, meant when she reacted to news of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s prison sentences. After the Full House star and fashion designer were sentenced for their roles in the U.S. college admissions scandal over a Zoom meeting on Aug. 21, Entertainment Tonight relayed the news in an Instagram post. Some fans saw this as too short of a punishment, like one Instagram user who commented, “They should have 4 years each for the college kids that should have gotten in – ugh.” This is when Candace jumped into the conversation.
Candace, who has starred alongside Lori in Full House between 1988-1995 and its Netflix revival series between 2016-2018, reacted to that opinion with a bummed out emoji. It’s unclear if she was showing her disapproval over Lori receiving even more prison time, or if she was empathizing with the students who could not rely on bribery to be admitted into USC (the university that Lori and Mossimo’s daughters Olivia Jade, 20, and Isabella Rose, 21, attended). Fans tried to ask Candace to clarify the meaning behind her emoji.
“Why did you put that emoji in @candacebure ?,” one Instagram user asked, and another fan speculated, “I would imagine she put that emoji up because Lori has been a part of candacebure’s life for a long time… it would be painful for anyone to see their friend go to jail… regardless of the circumstances!” Indeed, Candace and Lori have a decades-long relationship. On Full House and its spin-off series, Candace played DJ, the niece of Jesse (played by John Stamos), who eventually marries Becky on the show (played by none other than Lori). HollywoodLife has reached out to Candace’s rep for comment.
Candace has made it known in the past, however, that she’ll consider her on-screen aunt as “family” no matter what. During an appearance on the Today show in April of 2019, Candace told host Hoda Kotb, “It’s too personal to us, and we would never want to talk about someone that’s such a dear and close friend. I’ve already said that we are family, and we stand by each other and pray for each other, and we’ll always be there for each other.” Candace’s on-screen sister, Jodie Sweetin, was also with her, who nodded her head to support Candace’s statement.
In addition to the two months in prison that Lori will be serving, she will also have to pay a $150,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community of service for her charge. Meanwhile, her husband Mossimo was given five months in prison, a fine of $250,000 and 250 hours of community service.
Candace Cameron Bure and Lori Loughlin can be seen above in the last season trailer for Fuller House.
The sentences were decided upon after Lori and Mossimo both agreed to plead guilty for their involvement in the “Operation: Varsity Blues” scandal in May of 2020. Lori pleaded guilty to “one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud,” and her husband pleaded guilty to “to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. The parents had been accused of allegedly paying $500,000 in a scheme to get their two daughters admitted into USC as crew team recruits (the daughters didn’t actually competitively row).