Posted on 12/22/2013 2:09:43 PM PST by Gamecock
Dear A&E,
I read that you are indefinitely suspending Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty after he quoted the Bible and said that the homosexual act is sinful. I get it, guys. I do. You punished the Christian guy for being a Christian because you got some angry emails from a bunch of whiny gay activists who lack the spine and maturity to deal with the fact that there are still people out there who have the guts to articulate opinions that they find disagreeable. In so doing, you’ve kowtowed to a pushy minority of vocal bullies who don’t even watch your channel, while alienating the fan base of the one show that keeps your entire network afloat.
Makes sense.
You’ve got standards, after all. You wouldn’t want to be associated with tasteless and inappropriate things. The people on Duck Dynasty can’t be allowed to run around being all Christian-like. It might ruin the reputation of the network whose other shows include Hoarders and Intervention — programs that invite viewers to gawk at drug addicts and the mentally ill for their own amusement.
Disney-ABC Television Group owns 50 percent of your network, were they involved in this decision? They must have been. They’ve got a brand to protect. They can’t allow a bearded right winger to spout beliefs. BELIEFS, of all things. The horror! We must shutdown beliefs, opinions, and ideas, and get back to the serious business of selling sex and debauchery to children. They can’t deal with these distractions, don’t they have another season of The Bachelor or Desperate Housewives or Trophy Wife to produce?
Good Lord, these militant neo-liberal thought police are better at brainwashing than I ever realized. They just convinced you to torpedo your own network. You guys just kamikazed yourselves. You just pulled the pin on the grenade and then put it in your pocket. This is incredible. Didn’t you see what happened with Chic-fil-A when GLAAD crusaders tried to shutdown an entire business just because they disapproved of the owner’s opinions? Don’t you remember that? I’ll refresh your memory: their “boycott” resulted in an enormous sales spike for the company, as millions of people like myself went out of our way to eat there just to ensure that the anti-free speech fools on the left didn’t win. A week after the anti-Chic-fil-A campaign began, their restaurants across the country were overflowing. It was, officially, the least effective boycott in the history of mankind.
Now it’s all going to happen again, except it will be the opposite effect, and you’ll be on the losing end this time around.
If you don’t bring Phil back immediately, and publicly apologize to him and to his viewers for attempting to censor his Christian faith, Duck Dynasty will leave your network, find a new home, and all of those ratings will go somewhere else. Then you’ll be stuck with the stragglers who feel like spending a Saturday rubbernecking at mentally disturbed elderly women with compulsive hoarding addictions. That’s how this is going to play out. Congratulations.
Did you think the “gay rights” crowd would stick around and “support you” for meeting their ransom demands? No, silly A&E, that isn’t how this works. The speech-controllers on the left are like a black hole. They can only suck you in and obliterate you. They’re like the devil — they ask for your soul and offer nothing in return.
Am I coming on too strong?
Just wait.
Just you wait.
This is the worst decision you’ve ever made. Well, “Bonnie and Clyde” was the worst decision, but this is a close second. Speaking of which, just to make sure we’re clear, the violent mini-series glorifying a couple of thugs who robbed some banks and killed some people 80 years ago — OK. Wholesome family man quotes the Bible during an interview with GQ — UNACCEPTABLE. Is that the correct equation? Is that your business model?
Just to be doubly clear: you guys hate the Bible and find it to be offensive, right? Or is it just parts of the Bible? Or is it just Christians? Or is it just Christians who have the audacity to believe in the entire Bible, rather than a select few segments that pass the modern PC litmus test? Just let me know, and I’ll send the word along to my readers, many of whom are Christians who watch — I mean, used to watch –A&E. I’m sure they’ll be interested in finding out that you view their faith as so abhorrent that you’d fire a guy simply for quoting a passage from their Holy Book.
You made your bed. You decided to stand against free speech, against open expression of ideas, against Christians, against the Bible, against the views of a majority of humanity, against the most profitable show in the history of your network, and against almost all of your viewers. But, hey, at least you put a smile on GLAAD’s face. That must make it all worth it, right?
Sincerely,
Everyone who isn’t a left wing extremist (AKA your former customer base)
Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty after he quoted the Bible and said that the homosexual act is sinful
___________________________________
God said
“When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.” Ezekiel 3:18
and God said
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah 58:1
For right now Phil’s viewpoint better be that he’s under contract. Now when the contract comes up for renewal that’s another matter entirely. There might be an apology, but it won’t be for what most people think, it’ll be for their handler completely screwing the pooch, that question should have been on the banned list and Phil should have been stopped from answering it. There’s plenty of gospeling Phil can do that doesn’t relate to things that cause backlash and boycotts. Of course most network apologies are written on checks.
New season of Duck Dynasty WITH Phil starts in January. I hope it is as good as the other 4 Seasons. Most don’t realize that season 5 was filmed already. Season 6 without Phil would not begin filming until April. Who know what could happen by then.
The LGBT crowd, on whole, do not believe in God, and Heaven.
I do not understand why they are personally upset or feel disrespected.
Phil repeated the Bible, that sinners, including those addicted to MSM sex, do not go to Heaven.
If the LBGT crowd do not believe or care about Heaven, why are they upset??
Of course he's under contract and knows it. The question is whether A&E violated, and thereby voided, that contract--no doubt they invoked a "morals clause." We're arguing nationally just what is moral, and A&E's one-sided interpretation of that is legally challengeable. They knew who and what Phil was beforehand, and they have not previously attempted to rein him in when he's made numerous other similar pronouncements.
Moreover, the family is also under contract, and they can put A&E right behind the eight ball simply by publicly agreeing completely with Phil's stance. Is A&E going to suspend all of them?
Guy on far right, grey t-shirt, black ball cap.
Just waiting for the right time to jump off that boat
Disney is full of homosexuals at all levels of management. It’s almost a prerequisite for working there. And you can be sure they stick together to disparage and punish any one who gets in their way.
obviously part of the crew and wondering if he can find a new job
I broke my reply into two sections.
The Gospel itself causes offense, as Jesus predicted. Phil will not agree to abridge it in order to avoid or even minimize controversy, for that is inherent in the Gospel itself, as Phil well knows. Since he agreed to do the show specifically in order to have a bigger platform for preaching the Gospel, he is very unlikely to agree to moderating it in any way. Moreover, he will resist firmly any attempt to muzzle him--he'll see it as Satan's intervention.
In short, Phil is sure he has already won. A&E's suspension has increased the broadcasting of his message by many orders of magnitude. God is fully controlling these events--He is using A&E even as He did Pharaoh.
Amen. Well stated.
“Morals clause” is a misnomer, used because so often it gets invoked because the person got caught with a hooker or driving extremely drunk or maybe even both, what the clause actually bans is bad PR. Nobody cares if the talent behaves immorally, so long as it doesn’t generate bad press, or worse boycotts.
A&E could very easily suspend all of them. Remember the next season is already filmed, the “work” right now is promoting the season, suspensions here don’t effect much of anything. And the suspensions will definitely be over before filming has to start again. Really if they just shut up and let this blow over the suspension will be over a couple weeks after the season premier. The story so far only has legs in the conservative community, which is just fine by A&E, all they want is the story to die before it dings ratings.
Somebody is offended by everything, but certain things are hot button issues, and gays right now top that list. Nobody can mention gays without getting somebody mad. Which is why it should have been on the handler’s “no questions, no answers” list, the interviewer should have been instructed not to ask, and when he did the handler should have intervened, reminded him it was on the no go list and not let Phil answer. He’s been giving these interviews and preaching the gospel for 2 years tied to the show and this is the first time he’s run into problems.
He’s already agreed to moderating it, there’s no way A&E gave carte blanche to hold forth on any topic at any time. Too Charlie Sheens and Hutton Gibsons out there, there’s always going to be a forbidden topic list.
I think you're implying that the family would most like to resume taping. That's not at all how I read them. Phil wants to preach, unfettered, and I doubt very much that he has agreed to the limitations you say he has. I don't imagine A&E ever anticipated either that the show would become so widely admired or that Phil's platform would ever become so prominent as a result. And there are several family members that not only wouldn't dream of not supporting their "patriarch" but are nearly as eager as he. None of them needs the money--and their faith is firm enough that money wouldn't be an issue, anyway.
I would be very surprised to see the family ever backing down without A&E apologizing or conceding fully--they may not call it an apology, but it will be. Or else the Robertsons are through with A&E.
Anyway, it's not merely an interesting but also an important saga, for it has brought to a head the conspiracy of enforced silence against the Christian Gospel message that there is a penalty for sin. I'm sure Phil and the family see it just that way, and they are not about to cave in.
“Remember the next season is already filmed”
Not true. One episode has not been filmed yet. I think its the season finale. It was delayed because of duck season. Lol!
Can you imagine how tense the set will be when they film that one? Being reality TV, the Robertsons can do anything and still get paid. Quote scripture, do nothing interesting at all, lots of smartass comments, say insulting things about A&E, tell gay jokes. Anything!!
PS - Comcast called me last night asking me if I was happy with my cable plan and whether I wanted to upgrade. I told them to get A&E the h*ll off my TV. I told them that I don’t want it on my plan anymore. That I find it anti-Christian and offensive. It sounded like I wasn’t the first person to tell them that.
That’s the family being dumb. Why would A&E want to “get” the star of the most popular show in the history of the network? What would they gain? You just have to look at how this situation has played out to see why A&E would be stupid to do such a thing. Letting Phil answer questions that should have been on the banned list angered the left and spawned boycotts over there, and then disciplining Phil angered the right spawning boycotts over there. Nobody wants to “get” their stars, that damages the flow of money.
If they’re still under contract at the end of this season they’ll resume taping, or by the time they’re done being sued A&E will own everything they’ve ever done. He HAS to have agreed to the limitations because no network would EVER sign a contract without them, the fact that they’ve suspended him proves those clauses exist. It’s standard boiler plate stuff, nobody starts filming anything without it.
Actually it’s not that interesting or important. In the end it’s just another celebrity “controversy” that will blow over in a week, it’s already mostly blown over. There’s no conspiracy, he said rude hurtful things that insulted people, and that made people mad, and that started a backlash. If they see it as a conspiracy they’re setting themselves up to lose this. It’s just another silly bit of celebrity fluff, a handler failed to do his job, Phil failed to understand he was stepping in it, “controversy” ensued, unless they feed it it’ll all blow over by Christmas, there will be a minor “relapse” with the season premier, but by Valentines Day it’ll be just like nothing happened... unless the family decides to do the dumb thing and not let it die. Then they lose everything.
If the situation doesn’t resolve that episode doesn’t matter. They’ve already had 3 different episode counts in 4 seasons (a 15, two 13s and a 10), what’s another minor variation.
You probably weren’t the first. And nothing will change. They’re not dropping A&E it’s one of the big networks, and with Disney owning half of it they’d rather make you mad than them. Never mess with the Mouse, the Mouse always wins.
Thanks for the interesting discussion. I’m eager to see the outcome, which you appear to view as a foregone conclusion. As I said, I think Phil is resolute. But he’s also smart and has good legal help.
The story has legs across the political spectrum, but it's most on fire in the conservative community.
That said, liberals don't watch Duck Dynasty, so whatever impact this is having on them makes no difference to the show's ratings. The ratings have already tanked, due to the controversy, and will probably never come back to what they once were.
No, the story is played out on the liberal side, it dominated for a couple of days but once Phil got suspended they pretty much stopped caring. I saw two things about it yesterday on Facebook and none today, the story is done. I’m sure there are actually liberals that watch DD, it’s probably not their primary demographic but the guys are freaking funny, lots of people out there don’t let their politics interfere with their entertainment. The rating haven’t tanked, reruns got way lower ratings than the holiday special, that’s not tanking, that’s expected. The new season starts in January, then we’ll see about the ratings.
I don’t think his statements had been made public until A&E suspended him. They are run by gay Christian haters.
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