Willie Robertson, star of the reality television series Duck Dynasty, has defended anti-LGBT comments made by his father, agreeing gay and lesbian people are sinners who will not go to heaven because the Bible is literal.
In a recent interview, CNN's Kyra Phillips asked Willie Robertson to "clear the air" about comments his father, Phil Robertson, had made last year.
The patriarch of A&E's hit show had opined at the time that "a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus."
"Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there," was his explanation of sin to GQ magazine. "Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men."
Phil Robertson added: "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. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right."
Willie Robertson did not repudiate his father remarks in the interview that was aired on Wednesday, but accused GQ magazine of having an agenda.
"Phil just said what he thought, you know, what was on his heart," the younger Robertson said, noting that his father "did some paraphrasing" of the book of Corinthians.
"I believe what the Bible says," Willie Robertson insisted, comparing LGBT people to drunks and thieves. "And that's what he says to put those in."
"And for him and for you, the Bible is literal, that's how it is," Phillips observed.
"That's how it was said," Willie Robertson agreed.
Watch the video below from CNN's NEw Day, broadcast March 26, 2014.
