Fans of the popular A&E network’s Duck Dynasty reality series were taken for a loop when one of the stars made some questionable comments in a recent interview. Phil Robertson not only made anti-gay remarks, he also said Black people were “happy” before the days of the Civil Rights Movement.
Sitting with GQ for an exclusive interview, the chat with Robertson was tame enough as the founder of the Duck Commander company spoke about his love of hunting, religion and the outdoors. Things began to unravel when the bearded patriarch of the Duck Dynasty show began to express his feelings on homosexuality, calling it a “sin” but it didn’t stop there. Robertson recalled his time as a young man in the backwoods of Louisiana, saying that Blacks were living just fine under the oppressive Jim Crow period.
From GQ:
“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.”
Naturally, the Human Rights Campaign and the NAACP joined forces in crafting a letter to the president of A&E expressing their dismay over Robertson’s comments. The network suspended Robertson indefinitely from the show, but it appears that A&E may have been aware of the star’s anti-gay stance for years.
An exclusive report from TMZ shows a 2010 sermon of Robertson in Pennsylvania decrying the gay lifestyle. TMZ claims the producers of Duck Dynasty and A&E knew of this, but hired him anyway.
Hit the next page to see a video of Robertson live from the pulpit.
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Photo: GQ
