The gays attacked Phil. Their next target was aimed at Bob Newhart to stop him for speaking in a Catholic venue because of the churches views on homosexuality. You can't back off they take it as weakness and encouragement. A&E has huge parent corps that own the network both ABC/Disney and Hearst corp. A&E is a small part of the picture.
Doesn't any Feeeper find it odd that a certain senior reporter/host/interviewer working for ABC was denied an interview because Phil decided to go hunting and two days afterward this story broke?