Paul was a hater. He hated sin.
A&E had a hissy fit, and thought they could reclaim all their street cred with the LGBT crowd by throwing Phil Robertson overboard.
Not their best move for preservation of credibility elsewhere, though. But what the heck, they are just a bunch of chumps over there at A&E, trying to fritter away their patrons’ money. And doing a good job of it, by essentially losing EVERYBODY in the Robertson Clan, and their most popular offering to the cable outlets.