Phil Robertson says associating ‘Redneck’ and the Confederate flag is offensive to him and that the Confederate flag is not what he and his family stands for:
NY POST – Artist Michael Hunt, who got to know the “Duck Dynasty” patriarch when Robertson signed some of Hunt’s prints that were donated to charity, told BlogTalkRadio, “I have spent countless hours across the table in [the Robertson] home autographing thousands of prints of various projects.”
In an interview airing Wednesday, Hunt told host Janice Malone, “I remember looking over [Robertson’s] shoulder at this big-screen TV . . . And the news was on. And all of a sudden [his] face pops up on TV, and it was a big controversy about some kid who had worn a Confederate flag to school . . . on a day they had titled ‘Redneck Day.’ And the school expelled the child.
“And I said, ‘Phil, turn around.’ So he turned around and I could tell he was — visually — very upset. And he said, ‘I have never owned a Confederate flag.’ He said, ‘This is what upsets me.’ He said, ‘ “Redneck” is a term of endearment around here. And attaching that to a Confederate flag is offensive to me . . . That Confederate flag is not what we stand for.’ ”
I’m sure this will seem contradictory to the leftists who want to paint Phil as a redneck racist, but they are the ones who twisted his words in the first place. He never said anything racist at all. They claim he said all black people were happy in the Jim Crow South, but that’s not true. If you read what he said, you’ll see he never made a monolithic statement about all black people living in the South back in the days of the Jim Crow laws. He was only talking about people he knew and shared experiences with when he said they were happy and Godly.
(h/t: Michael B)
UPDATE: As a side note, I should mention that Phil Robertson didn’t say this in his defense because of his recent comments, but said it sometime back in the last year or two.