Phil Robertson Duck Dynasty Gay Comments: Jesse Jackson Calls Him More Offensive than Rosa Parks Driver
Continuing with the backlash against Phil Robertson of A&E's Duck Dynasty, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has issued a statement saying that the Robertson family patriarch is "worse than Rosa Parks' driver" when it comes to civil rights.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson's comments don't have anything to do with Robertson's anti-gay remarks issued to GQ Magazine (the source of much of the current Duck Dynasty backlash). Rather, Jackson's comments stem from Robertson's statement, in the same GQ interview, that he never saw a black person mistreated in Louisiana in the pre-Civil Rights era.
"I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once," Robertson said. "Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash. We're going across the field. ... They're singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, 'I tell you what: These doggone white people' -- not a word! ... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues."
This, according to Deadline.com, makes Robertson worse than Rosa Parks's bus driver in Jackson's eyes. "These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago," Jackson said. "At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was 'white privilege.'"
A&E placed Robertson on indefinite suspension shortly after his remarks, published in the magazine's January issue, debuted online. But Jackson, his Rainbow PUSH Coalition and GLAAD, which condemned Robertson's remarks and commended A&E for its swift action against the Duck Dynasty star, want to meet with network executives about the future of the show, according to ABC News. They also want to meet with the CEO of Cracker Barrel, which pulled all Duck Dynasty memorabilia last Friday before backtracking two days later.
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