A&E was hit by a 12-gauge “Duck Dynasty” backlash Thursday as religious and conservative groups denounced the network for suspending the reality show’s gay-bashing star — whose family suggested it could be the end.
Supporters of show patriarch Phil Robertson — who in a magazine interview compared homosexuality to bestiality — called for a boycott of the cable network.
“Phil Robertson and his family are great citizens of the state of Louisiana,” declared Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of the state where the show is filmed. “The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they disagree with.”
“It is a messed-up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh and Phil Robertson gets suspended.”
Robertson’s comments prompted A&E to put him on “hiatus” Wednesday.
In a statement released Thursday night on the Web site duckcommander.com, the family hinted that if Robertson is kicked off the show, the entire clan of bearded, swamp-dwelling millionaires might pack up their duck calls and go home.
“Phil would never incite or encourage hate,” the statement said. “We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm.”
The wildly popular series drew 11.8 million viewers in August, the most ever for a nonfiction cable show. The Robertsons become the darlings of conservatives around the world for their pro-business and pro-family views.
But Wednesday, gay groups and PC pundits raged after GQ magazine published Robertson’s comments on homosexuality.
“It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me . . . But, hey, sin, it’s not logical,” Robertson, 67, told the mag.
Asked what he finds sinful, he said, “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 remarks ignited a firestorm.
“Phil’s decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors,” said the gay activist group GLAAD.
But Robertson’s supporters have been quacking back.
A new Facebook page, “Boycott A&E Until Phil Robertson is Put Back on Duck Dynasty,” earned more than 740,000 likes.
And a religious group, The Faith Driven Consumer, launched an “I Stand With Phil” petition drive online.
Libertarian lesbian columnist Camille Paglia backed Robertson, calling A&E’s move borderline fascism.
“I speak with authority here because I was openly gay before the Stonewall Rebellion . . . and I personally feel as a libertarian that people have the right to free thought and free speech,” she said
on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” referring to the 1969 Greenwich Village riots that marked a watershed moment in the struggle for gay rights.
Robertson, meanwhile, didn’t stop at gays, insisting that black people were “happy” before the civil-rights movement.
“Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them . . . They’re singing and happy,” Robertson said.
At least one show sponsor, clothing company Under Armour, has pledged not to cut ties with the network.