A&E indefinitely suspends 'Duck Dynasty' star for remarks about gays

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. TV network A&E Wednesday suspended "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson in response to remarks about gays he made to GQ magazine.

"We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty," A&E said in a statement. "His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely."

Robertson told GQ the line between right and wrong has become "blurred" -- starting with "homosexual behavior."

"Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men," he said, citing Corinthians in the Old Testament. "Don't be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers -- they won't inherit the kingdom of God."

Robertson said homosexuality is "not logical, my man."

"It seems like, to me, a vagina -- as a man -- would be more desirable than a man's anus," he said. "That's just me. I'm just thinking: There's more there! She's got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I'm saying?"

Gay-rights advocates called Robertson's remarks "vile."

A spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Wilson Cruz, said in a statement Robertson "and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe. He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans -- and Americans -- who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples."

"Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to re-examine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families," Cruz said.

Robertson issued a statement through A&E to Fox411 saying he "centered my life around sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior."

He said his mission now is to "tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together."

"However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other."

In the GQ interview, Robertson also spoke about race in his home state of Louisiana before the Civil Rights era.

"I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once," he said. "Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. 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 black people were "godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues."