While I’m almost hesitant to post yet another story about A&E, Duck Dynasty and the Phil Robertson situation in fear of ‘Duck BurnOut’, the story just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I almost feel like I should start this article with a rendition of Britney Spears “OOPS, I did it again”!
For a short period on Monday, it appears Twitter may have made it very clear that they don’t stand with Phil Robertson when the social network ‘accidentally?’ blocked tweets that included the pro-Robertson petition site, IStandWithPhil.com. However, once “Duck Dynasty” fans noticed the block, Twitter restored access explaining that the website URL had been ‘mistakenly’ flagged as spam.
“We have restored access and apologize for the error,” a Twitter spokesperson told the site. The petition on IStandWithPhil.com asks A&E to “immediately reinstate Mr. Robertson to Duck Dynasty, and to formally apologize to him, his family, and the millions of viewers who tune in every week.” It has garnered more than 200,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning and a similar petition on Change.org has earned about 115,000 signatures.
In the meantime, Phil Robertson broke his silence during his Sunday Bible study. At White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ, dressed in full camouflage, he called himself a “lover of humanity and not a hater.” “I have been immoral, drunk, high. I ran with the wicked people for 28 years and I have run with the Jesus people since, and the contrast is astounding…Jesus will take sins away. If you’re a homosexual He’ll take it away, if you’re an adulterer, if you’re a liar, what’s the difference? If you break one sin, you may as well break them all.” He added, “I have made hundreds and hundreds of speeches and you can pick them apart and the center has always been Jesus Christ…(He) was the most perfect being to ever walk this planet and He was persecuted and nailed to the Cross, so please don’t be surprised when we get a little static.”
In a separate report, The Daily Mail posted an article on December 21 in which an unnamed Duck Dynasty insider claimed the Robertson family was being “hung out to dry,” contending that an A&E official was with Robertson during the GQ interview and therefore knew what the patriarch had said and did nothing to change or prevent the article from being published.
The “unnamed source” reportedly said, “It is our understanding that when the TV executives came up with the concept for the show, they wanted it to be a case of people laughing at a bunch of backward rednecks.” But when it didn’t turn out like that…it did not sit well with the New York TV types. We believe they were also uncomfortable with the family’s insistence that there would be a strong religious presence in the show.
“They knew Phil was the driving force behind this and we think they have used this situation to bring him in line so they could steer the show back down the path they intended. But they may have underestimated how…committed (the Robertson family) is to their beliefs.”