Every historical documentary about Hollywood includes a moment where the end of the Production Code in the 1960s is hailed as progress — the end of stodgy, ugly censorship. Except the Production Code was self-censorship – created, funded, and supported by the Hollywood studios themselves. GLAAD is the Production Code’s evil twin: an outside group censoring Hollywood through emotional blackmail and threats. And until GLAAD bumped into “Duck Dynasty,” they were winning the battle to bully the entertainment industry into conformity.
GLAAD’s m.o. has been the same for years: Find an offender, publicly terrorize and threaten the offender and their employer into an apology, place said offender into a re-education camp, release hostage video of the offender confessing his crimes and promising to never do it again.
In 2010, Universal Studios went through this over a film trailer that contained the joke, “Electric cars are gay.”
In 2011, actor/comedian Tracy Morgan went through this over a riff about homosexuals during a stand-up performance.
In late 2011, director Brett Ratner went through this (and lost the prestigious job of producing the Academy Award telecast) after joking about rehearsals being for “fags” at a screening of his new movie.
In 2012, then-CNN contributor Roland Martin went though this, and was suspended by CNN, for mocking the masculinity of soccer star David Beckham (who is straight) during the Super Bowl.
Other than Ratner’s childish joke (where a simple apology should have sufficed), every other instance listed above is perfectly defensible (and Breitbart News defended them). Nobody did anything wrong. But that didn’t stop fascistic GLAAD from launching a reign of terror to pressure two artists and one political journalist into submission.
That didn’t work with “Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson, though, because this time GLAAD messed with the wrong man, the wrong family, the wrong show, and the wrong audience.
If GLAAD wants to Kangaroo Court members of Hollywood and the elite media, that is something they can get away with. Both of those institutions are mostly run by and staffed with politically correct moral cowards who are either afraid of or sympathetic to GLAAD’s censorious crusade. The same goes for any audience those persecuted by GLAAD might have.
“Duck Dynasty” might be produced by a Hollywood network, but its stars (the Robertson family) and its audience are products of the diverse expanse of Middle America that lies between the elite coasts, and we are not going to be bullied. Moreover, we are not going to allow GLAAD and its media allies to attack us and our faith by using Phil Robertson as a stand in.
The Robertson family wasn’t going to back down, and their audience of over ten million was behind them 100%. It was an easy stand to take as well, because we all knew Robertson had done absolutely nothing wrong. The only wrongdoers were the A&E Network for its cowardly suspension of Robertson, and GLAAD and the elite media for using Robertson as a way to claim the Christian Gospel is bigoted.
Because their crusade (like the ones listed above) was not righteous, GLAAD’s mistake was trying to bully a Christian family and their Christian audience. GLAAD and its media allies apparently thought we were just like them. But our reason for being is not to seek the favor of the Hollywood and media elite. We were not going to buckle, and this left A&E in a lose-lose situation: The network could either lose their number-one show to a more tolerant network or suffer through a sternly-worded press release from GLAAD.
A&E made the only choice it could. Because the Robertson family is beholden to a power higher than CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, GLAAD, and money – and knew their audience would follow them anywhere – A&E’s only choice was to back down and lift the suspension. “Duck Dynasty” has all kinds of options. A&E only had two — none of them good.
GLAAD had no leverage in this fight and, as a result, the bullies got figuratively punched right in the nose in front of the whole wide world. Like any beaten bully, GLAAD is humiliated and has now lost face. But if they want their mojo back, they will have to go back to persecuting the cowards on their own side of the political and cultural divide.
Christians won’t behead you or blow up your studio. But we also won’tworship you. And when we turn the other cheek, our money goes with us.
P.S. It also doesn’t help GLAAD’s credibility when they give Alec Baldwin a total pass for something truly indefensible.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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