‘The Fosters’ season 3: Festival news, controversy, other news while you wait

If you enjoy “The Fosters,” there has been an embarrassment of riches the past few weeks in between new episodes and news stories. Granted, not all of it has been good news. The departure of Jake T. Austin stings, regardless of if the show opts to kill Jesus off or simply write him off the show another way. The fact that you are going to have to wait until summer for more new episodes stings even more.

So while you wait, and given that today is when you would have been diving into a new episode, now seemed like the right time to share a pair of stories that have hit the internet over the past few days.

Another way to see the show – Let’s start with what will actually have you excited if you are in Austin: The show will be represented at the ATX Television Festival this summer! While we do not know dates just yet (or the specific cast in attendance), co-creators Peter Paige and Brad Bredeweg will be there. Given that this is Austin, a place typically stuffed to the brim with creative thinkers, expect some in-depth and thoughtful questions about the series’ development and some of the social issues it tackles like adoption and sexuality.

YouTube controversy – This is a story that was brought to our attention by Variety, as actor Gavin MacIntosh (who plays Connor on the show) revealed that a fan video uploaded of Connor and Jude kissing was tagged with an age restriction by the popular video site. In a series of tweets that MacIntosh later deleted, he blasted YouTube for supporting “hate groups” and allowing for “discrimination,” since the obvious implication here is that a video featuring a teenage boy and girl kissing would not be met with such a block as a same sex kiss.

After Variety contacted YouTube, the restriction was lifted. Whether it was a deliberate action on their part to block the video in the first place is unclear.

We’re going to have further updates related to “The Fosters” throughout the TV hiatus at this link, so stay tuned! Also, you can sign up to score some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC Family.)