Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin issued a scathing assessment of A&E’s decision to “indefinitely” suspend “Ducky Dynasty” reality show star Phil Robertson for his biblically based views on homosexuality: That’s an attack on free speech, she said.
In a Facebook posting, Mrs. Palin — pictured in a photograph next to the stars of the Christian-themed show — said “intolerants” were to blame for his suspension.
“Free speech is an endangered species,” she wrote, on her Facebook account. “Those ’intolerants’ hatin’ and taking on the ’Duck Dynasty’ patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.”
Mr. Robertson was suspended Wednesday evening after Human Rights Campaign and the NAACP wrote a joint letter to A&E’s president, decrying the star’s comments in a recent GQ magazine interview as racist and inflammatory.
In the interview, Mr. Robertson cited biblical beliefs that homosexuality was a sin. He also said that in his growing up years down South, he never saw any blacks say, “I tell you what: These doggone white people’ — not a word. … Were they happy? They were godly, they were happy. No one was singing the blues.”
The NAACP and Human Rights Campaign found those statements objectionable.
SEE ALSO: ‘Duck Dynasty’ Phil Robertson suspended ‘indefinitely’ for gay quip
In their letter, the civil rights groups’ heads wrote, CNN reported: “Mr. Robertson claims that, from what he saw, African Americans were happier under Jim Crow. What he didn’t see were lynching and beatings of black men and women for attempting to vote or simply walking down the street. And his offensive claims about gay people fly in the face of science … it’s not a choice, and to suggest otherwise is dangerous.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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