Love them or hate them, the Duck Dynasty and network A&E
certainly have their hands full at the moment.
Homophobic
and racist slurs? Check. Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family of popular
show Duck Dynasty was seen making these disparaging remarks targeting
gays and African Americans, which led to the show's network host A&E
suspending the man from the program. However, they probably didn't anticipate
the reaction from the family members, who stood by Robertson and as of this
writing don't want to move forward without him. This has put A&E in
something of a trap, as they will stand to lose a lot if they cancel the show.
At the same time, they as a network will lose credibility if they leave these
remarks unchallenged, as they face the fury of civil rights and LGBT
organizations. Roberton has probably unwittingly single handedly made
this a calamity for both himself and A&E. This especially affects the
latter, who has become a target of negative criticism from conservatives and
liberals alike.
From a
modern perspective, what Robertson said was wrong. In the United States, there
is supposed to be nothing wrong with speaking your mind. However, as a public
figure (not to mention a believer of the Christian faith), saying things like
this is just begging for people to dislike him due to intolerance because
people know who he is. If his goal was to state his mind with the intention of
getting people angry at him, he did his job proper. And if he was
thinking like a businessman, he would never have said the statements that he
did.
A&E
is at fault here as well for putting themselves in this position. If they knew
anything about the Duck Dynasty family, they would know that they're
very close knit and an attack on one of them would be considered an attack on
all. Their decision to single out the only offender is probably something
they're kicking themselves in the head right now. This has severely damaged
their reputation in the eyes of both conservative and liberal thinkers alike.
Judging
by Robertson's comments, he doesn't seem to mind offending a particular group
of people. A&E, however, will probably be trying to fix this PR disaster.
If you or someone you know is in a bit of a pickle like A&E is right now, Centel Media™ could very well be the
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Jonathan
Wong,
Creative
Writer,
Matthew
Shaffer,
Editor-In-Chief,
