Obama says family on Duck Dynasty seems like ‘pretty fun bunch’
President Obama said the “Duck Dynasty” family seemed like a “pretty fun bunch” in a People magazine interview conducted before Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the reality show family, was suspended from the popular television show over anti-gay comments.
In the People interview, the president was asked who he’d rather spend the day with — the “Duck Dynasty” family or Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
{mosads}Obama has previously criticized West’s antics, but offered praise for both reality show families in the People interview.
“The Duck Dynasty family seems like a pretty fun bunch, so I can see how that would be pretty fun. Kanye’s music is outstanding, though. I’ve got a lot of his stuff on my iPad. If it was a concert, then I might not mind listening to him,” Obama said.
The comment was made before an interview with GQ‘s Drew Magary was published Wednesday, in which Robertson called homosexuality sinful and illogical.
“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he said.
Gay rights organizations have criticized the comments, and A&E, which airs the “Duck Dynasty” show, suspended Robertson.
Robertson’s comment comes shortly after the president was applauded by LGBT groups for announcing that the presidential delegation to the Sochi Olympics would include two openly gay female athletes — seen as a protest of a Russia’s recently implemented anti-LGBT laws.
“In the selection of this delegation, we are sending the message that the United States is a diverse place,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
Carney added that the president has “made no bones about the fact that we strongly oppose and are offended by the anti-LGBT legislation.”
Some Republican lawmakers have protested Robertson’s suspension by A&E.
“It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a statement to The Weekly Standard.
Obama has previously criticized Kanye West, who Obama once famously called a “jackass.”
In a recent interview, the president said he was troubled by a shifting culture where kids were paying attention to what Kardashian was wearing.
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