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The issue here is not A&E's 1st amendment rights. The issue is whether or not A&E set expectations with the cast members of that show that have not been met.
With Howard Stern I assume his bosses fully expect him to say outrageous things and wouldn't fire him for it. I have no idea what expectations A&E set for that show. Based on what I know (just what has been written in mass media), A&E should not have been surprised by what was said. I assume they say non-PC stuff all the time.
If the cast of the show and A&E had a documented understanding that allowed controversial statements then A&E might be out of line. But I don't know that.
People keep saying this (goodness knows that it's all over my facebook feed) but as a pretty avid reader of the Bible I'm going to have to disagree. What he said is not paraphrasing any single scripture. And there hasn't been any mention of how he twisted "Rich" into "Greedy"
Also, I don't recall any Bible passages about singing , happy subjected black people. That statement on it's on would have been enough to get him fired.
You don't have to, but it's unlikely people are comparing you to those who indulge in bestiality or terrorism, so there's that. We still have the right to respond to being insulted.
I think you absolutely have a right to be insulted, and respond to the insult. I just wish that everyone would just talk it out instead of demanding removal from the public square. Your side won't gain any converts by this action.
Except he did: "Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers," he explained. "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!" he said. "Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues."
Having grown up in post Jim Crow South I can tell you that he's either a bigot or completely blind to the reasons why black didn't complain openly about their condition at that time. I sincerely hope it's blindness.
I think you absolutely have a right to be insulted, and respond to the insult. I just wish that everyone would just talk it out instead of demanding removal from the public square. Your side won't gain any converts by this action.
Actually, I have personally swayed some people by posting all his comments. Here on city-data, we're all pretty well aware of what he said, we just disagree on the interpretation of it, or about other specifics. Many people only heard something vague like "he just said he disagrees with gay marriage." Once I sent a link to the articles that fully list his comments, they were also offended.
Neither, they are going to milk this controversy for all it's worth. A&E knew his views on things before going into this deal. Well, maybe not his REALLY abhorrent views on the Jim Crow era, but they knew his strong evangelical outlook on life. The people out there who agree with his bigoted and distasteful statements are going to buy all of the DD merchandise they can carry out of Wal-Mart and sit through hours of the show in some futile effort to stick it to those evil PC libs at A&E. And those evil PC libs will laugh all the way to the bank.
Don't think that the A&E marketing department didn't learn from Chik-fil-A. They're going to use the bigotry of their viewers to make a fortune before the flash in the pan brand dies out on it's on.
Actually, I'm wondering if this was a publicity stunt by A&E. This could have been the conversation after the Duck Dynasty cast member's comment:
Executive A: Dang it! Why did he have to say that! We need to ignore this and downplay it, and it will go away.
Executive B: Oh no. We need to make sure as many people know about this as possible, and we need to focus attention on this, and suspend the actor, and give the impression of considering firing the actor.
Executive A: We can't fire the actor. That would kill the show. It's a reality show. It won't seem as believable if we just remove an actor, or worse, replace the actor.
Executive B: I didn't say we'd fire the actor. I said we'd suspend the actor and pretend like we're considering firing the actor. We'll never really consider firing the actor. His suspension will placate the people who were ticked off by his comment, and his suspension will make him seem like a martyr to all the people ideologically opposed to censorship of any kind, and all the people who view homosexuality as sinful. This will give the show free publicity, while making the show appear more realistic. He did, after all, get suspended for a comment it would not be surprising for a large percentage of southern, deeply religious Christians to make.
I'm not sure I'd argue that by suspending Robertson A&E is exercising it's speech rights. It seems to me a bit of a stretch to consider disciplinary actions between employers and employees as symbolic speech. I think it's more accurate to say that A&E is exercising it's right of property. A&E owns property - namely the A&E network and the show Duck Dynasty. If A&E deems Robertson's speech and actions harmful to its property, it has every right to protect it's property by disciplining Robertson in anyway it deems appropriate*
*(Another consideration is that this is probably not an at-will type of employment situation. I would imagine Robertson and A&E have an employment contract, so you'd have to look to the contract to see what it says is allowable or not allowable.)
A&E is run by people who didn't think this through and will be regretting this when the money goes to another network.
you lose either way. the question is do duck dynasty viewers watch other A&E programs. i dont know if they do or not.
you either lose the fanbase or the gay fanbase upset.
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