Things have improved a lot just in my lifetime. Gay marriage was unthinkable when I was a kid. Now it’s legal in a few states. Eventually there will be a Federal law supporting gay marriages.
The younger people have a much different view than our older grandparents. I don’t agree with Phil but I understand that he’ll probably never change.
He CAN’T damage the brand by repeating stuff the people who like the brand agree with.
[Sigh] I was going to stay out of this thread, but here goes …
As a redneck and a fan of the show, I’m looking forward to the show without Phil Robertson. His chauvinism was the only thing I really didn’t like about the show.
I’m not surprised by his opinions. I am a little surprised he was too stupid to keep mouth shut. I thought he was a little smarter than that, but I guess not. A&E cutting him out of the show is a win-win. Phil gets to sit in his recliner and feel like a martyr and I get to watch the show without him in it.
I do not even being to execuse his behavior, but for those of you who are puzzled by it, I’ll offer an explanation. Phil Robertson is almost exactly like my deceased grandfather. He settled down and became respectable, only after he got too old to keep up the pace of being an anti-social outlaw. He’s one of the fortunate few to live through it and to remain out of prison.
He’s an anachronism in every sense of the word, and, the part you’ll have a hard time grapsing, he’s proud of it. It’s his identity. The hunting and fishing - it reinforces his identity as a “pioneer” man. He truly wishes he had been born a century earlier.
Before you build up a bunch of rage against him, familiarize yourself with the phrase, “Bless your heart.” That’s truly the best response for folks like him. You wont be able to reason with him. You won’t change his mind. Just be polite, condescending, and patronizing. And move on. The only hope is that his kids and grandkids don’t continue the tradition. In my grandfather’s case, that was true because of the overwhelming influence of my grandmother on the next generation.
FWIW, I’m glad you didn’t stay out of the thread. That was a fantastic post and great advice at the end.
Indeed, his greatest offense was in not recognizing his new role as a public figure, and moderating his statements accordingly.
Yes, but not everybody who liked the DD show agrees with the guy (and many who do will still find his comments about slavery and assault&battery troubling), and people who don’t like gays aren’t really going to start watching DD any more than they are already.
His base has a lot of bigots != all his base are bigots or that all bigots are his base.
I can’t help but wonder if his statements in the GQ interview are not a form a “lashing out” that results from an internal struggle he’s dealing with. His fame and fortune have probably give him an exposure to a wider diversity of human beings in the last few years than he’s experienced in his previous 70 years. That tends to give lie to the stereotypes you’ve consoled yourself with your whole life. In other words, he’s not trying to convince anyone else of his shitty opinions, he’s trying to convince himself. If he’s like my grandfather, he’ll just disappear into the woods for a while to avoid the whole thing, even in his own head.
Not all, just enough.
This. x1000.
I hated the way he treated his daughters-in-law. Or how the best advice he could give to his granddaughters was, “cook well and a man will love you.” At least that was how he was portrayed, and it made me a little sad. I know that Willie is the CEO. But Corie (his wife) is smart as a whip, and had a ton of influence in the business success of Duck Commander. I can’t imagine Willie ever telling Sadie that the best way to land a man is through food… or even him valuing the idea of her landing a man in the first place.
I don’t know how much of this was Phil’s “character edit” for the show. I thought he was funny, but I never liked him much.
One of the worst episodes, IMO, was when Miss Kay hired the photographer to take pictures of the family and their dogs. The guy was flamboyant… and clearly was supposed to be gay (no idea if he really is). And Phil treated him like shit. Even though he did a great job with the pictures. 
Phil Robertson reacted exactly as the magazine wanted. Why would you ask that question of an almost 70 year old, deeply religious man if you didn’t already know the answer? Sounds like putting lipstick on a pig. It’s gonna sell a few more issues of the rag with a little controversy.
Besides who the Hell thought to interview Phil Robertson anyway? He has GOT to be the total antithesis of GQ readers. I doubt 1% of the folks that read GQ even know who Phil Robertson is or. or that matter watch Duck Dynasty.
I doubt that Duck commander sells many duck calls at Nieman Marcus or any of the fifth avenue mens shops in New York either.
I’ve always been offended by some of Phil’s comments, most often the way he disparages his daughter-in-laws and girl grand children. I thought the way he treated the pet photographer (who seemed gay) awful. But I’ve had grandparents that acted like that and I accepted it (hate the sin, love the sinner - it goes both ways).
In spite of all his disparaging rhetoric I still find him somewhat likeable even though his views on many subjects are polar opposites of mine. Hell, my grandparents were so racist, so chauvinistic, so puritan it boggles the mind but I realized they were products of their upbringing/environment.
I’m able to tolerate a lot of different viewpoints without getting overly upset. I don’t equate Phil Robertson with the likes of the WBC, who do upset me and by the way are protesting Robertson’s suspension.
I’ve done a bit more reading on the whole Duck Dynasty thing just so I would be a bit more in the know. What I find shocking is how big this has blown up on social media, apparently lots of people I know have deep opinions about a cable reality TV show about guys who hunt ducks.
From what it sounds like to me, Phil is the least interested member of the family in the reality show. He has had long standing disagreements with what they choose to feature most prominently in the show and “breaking the fourth wall” (if that’s even a thing for reality TV) he has even in past interviews talked about how ‘fake’ A&E makes parts of the show.
Phil also has a history of blowing off opportunities for more money and publicity ostensibly because he’s an old obstinate man who was a multimillionaire long before this show ever aired. As a demographic that’s not a group that is probably as willing to whore themselves for money as most.
I suspect it’s really Phil’s family that is most in to the show, as they now earn collectively $200k/episode. As the majority owner and founder of the business I’m sure most of the profits still go to Phil from the family business and for that reason he probably is much less interested in protecting the revenue stream from the show than are his children who probably are looking at fighting over pieces of a pie that gets cut a lot of ways.
The rest of the family has sided with Phil, so it looks like either the show will be shut down or A&E will cave. Perhaps Phil will issue an apology and A&E will say that is all that is needed.
http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/12/20/duck-dynasty-robertson-family-quitting-phil-robertson-suspended/