After Homophobic Rant, A+E Indefinitely Suspends ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star

Let’s hope that “suspended indefinitely” means “we have unceremoniously fired Phil Robertson, and don’t let the door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha.” There is no place for this kind of vicious, bigoted rhetoric, no matter what your personal religious beliefs happen to be:

Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has been placed on indefinite hiatus from the reality program following his controversial remarks in GQ magazine regarding homosexuality. While the cast member has not officially been fired, he will not be filming with the show moving forward.

A+E Networks, parent company of A&E, has released the following statement to Variety:

“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.”

A+E acted quickly after a number of gay advocacy groups including GLAAD brought the matter to the attention of the cable outlet.

But gays weren’t the only target of Phil’s Biblical wrath, as Jamie@CrooksAndLiars.com points out:

[T]he anti-gay comments aren’t the only thing Robertson is on the defense against. In the same GQ interview, he also made a claim that African Americans were better off in the pre-civil rights era:

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

David Badash tweeted the best reaction:

‘Duck Dynasty’ Star’s ‘Apology’ Keeps The Anti-Gay Nasty In Dynasty http://t.co/ZdwLbTrnj2 #p2 #lgbt #gay #topprog #uniteblue #DEM #noh8

— David Badash (@davidbadash) December 18, 2013

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.