Phil Robertson, who starred in the hit reality series Duck Dynasty, claims his family and their TV series were persecuted by “cancel culture” for being Christians long before the term went mainstream. Now, he is hitting back and warning Americans.
Running for 11 seasons from 2012 to 2017, Duck Dynasty was one of the most successful reality TV series for A&E. The show gave viewers an inside look at the lives of the Louisiana natives and their business, Duck Commander. However, things went sideways for Duck Dynasty when Phil Robertson’s interview with GQ landed him in hot water.
According to Fox News, “It was 2013 when A&Esuspended the Duck Dynasty patriarch for equating gay people with hell-bound sinners in a GQ interview. A firestorm resulted among his legions of defenders who felt the star was being censored by the network, which later reinstated him.”
Robertson wrote a book titled Uncanceled: Finding Meaning and Peace in a Culture of Accusations, Shame, and Condemnation. It explores how today’s cancel culture can be faced with your Christian faith. “The ones who attacked me, I didn’t hold it against them,” Robertson told Fox News Digital. “They asked me a question about a particular sin, homosexual behavior. And they asked if I believed it was a sin. I thought to myself, that’s a weird question to ask someone, but I just quoted a Bible verse.”
Robertson continued to explain his remarks. “I quoted what God had to say about that sin and nine other sins, but it was in the list of sins,” he said. “As we were doing Duck Dynasty, the upper crowd at A&E decided to drop the ax on me without first looking into what went down.” According to GQ, Robertson was asked, “What, in your mind, is sinful?” Robertson replied, “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”
The outlet shared that Robertson also paraphrased Corinthians from the Bible: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, nor the swindlers – they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” The suspension earned immediate praise from gay rights groups, but conservative fans argued that their viewpoints were often overlooked by Hollywood and the media. More than one million people liked an impromptu Facebook page demanding the show be boycotted until Robertson returned.
