Purely an educated guess. I'd bet that the rights to the show are owned wholly by A&E, that each member of the family is under contract for a certain number of episodes, and that Phil's contract includes some kind of "don't embarrass the network" clause.
Either that, or this is all a publicity stunt designed to increase ratings for the about-to-begin fourth season, which I wouldn't put past them.
You don’t know what you are talking about.
They aren’t just redneck hicks, they actually are really good business people. I would say they are a hell of a lot better at business than A&E. They are certainly more tolerant.
Willie and his wife adopted a couple of children of color way before it was ‘cool’. They are the sweetest kids. They attend a Christian school where they aren’t treated any different from the other kids even though they are on a hit television program.
These are good and honest people who are being trashed by the Gay Mafia where many of them work for the likes of A&E and other networks who have a big microphone.
You have no idea how many contracts they have or with whom. If A&E had any moral clauses they should have used them on some of their more trashy shows instead of a man on his reality show for voicing his religious beliefs.
“don’t embarrass the network” clause
I guess they forgot that when they hired Honey Boo Boo, the Rodeo Girls, Modern Dads or former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards and his young bride on The Governor’s Wife.