News, Sports and Entertainment for St. Martin Parish, La.

Gagging Robertson not free speech issue

LSN Editorial

The hoorah over Phil Robertson’s suspension from Duck Dynasty reflects an abundance of confusion on the public’s part about what A&E Network and other television entities are.
Robertson has every right to express his opinions regarding homosexuality -- calling it illogical and a sin -- just as A&E has a right to suspend him from the super-popular TV show.
Even Gov. Bobby Jindal has joined those responding, noting his amazement that the antics of such as Miley Cyrus are tolerated while Robertson is suspended.
Robertson supporters are aghast that someone exercising his First Amendment right to express his opinion is in effect muffled by A&E.
They seem to think the networks have some sort of obligation to truth, justice and the American way.
Forget it.
TV is first, last and always about entertainment and ratings. If a network perceives something might tamper with the latter, it acts, and generally does so quickly.
When Robertson’s remarks in a GQ magazine interview reached the A&E tower, action was swift.
There are too many potential viewers and/or advertisers among those chastised by Robertson as he expressed his personal beliefs.
In case you missed it, he termed homosexuality illogical and a sin and paraphrased a portion of the Bible to support his beliefs.
With absolutely no demographic data to support our argument, we’ll go out on a limb and say we suspect the overwhelming number of Duck Dynasty’s viewers agree with him.

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