Phil Robertson seemingly got himself in a world of hurt when he started spouting off racist and homophobic shit in an interview with GQ. This prompted A&E to suspend him from Duck Dynasty, and then the rest of the family threatened to not do the show because of it. A&E, being a huge international money-making company and all, started shitting themselves because Duck Dynasty has spawned all these weird merchandising deals and what the hell were they gonna do with all that stuff if the show didn’t go on? Did they really want to lose all that profit? Of course not, so they’ve said nevermind about the whole suspension thing and now it’ll be business as usual with Duck Dynasty. Fuuuuuuuuuuck off.
Here’s A&E’s statement (via US Weekly):
“As a global media content company, A+E Networks’ core values are centered around creativity, inclusion and mutual respect. We believe it is a privilege for our brands to be invited into people’s home and we operate with a strong sense of integrity and deep commitment to these principals.”
“That is why we reacted so quickly and strongly to a recent interview with Phil Robertson. While Phil’s comments made in the interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the ‘coarse language’ he used and the mis-interpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would ‘never incite or encourage hate.’ We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article, and reiterate that they are not views we hold.”
Ha, okay, shut up, A&E, no one’s buying it. I think this is bullshit any way you slice it, but I also would respect the network that much more if they were just honest from the beginning and said, “Look guys, sure it sucks that this family is racist and homophobic as hell, but it’s a TV show that’s making us a lot of money, so deal with it.” Instead, they decided to “suspend” Phil to set an example but when that backfired and the whole show was nearly going off the air, they just let it go. The family hasn’t “regretted coarse language” at all, because it’s exactly the language they’ve been preaching about in their “church” for years.
Rednecks will be rednecks, and that’s fine (and by “redneck”, I mean it in the worst sense – not based on geographic location, but based on ignorance and intolerance), but as Judge Judy would say, don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Special thanks to Evill Beet Gossip
