Lyion wrote:He didn't. He's an evangelical Christian and a GQ interviewer asked him about sin. He offered his honest opinion which I guess isn't allowed unless you tow the politically correct line. What he said was crude, but certainly not racist or different from most peoples thoughts.
The comedy here is this will hurt A&E a lot more than these guys, as they could walk elsewhere in a year or so and pick up where they left off. I'll bet the network guys cave in and find a way to back away from this.
OK, so he offered his honest opinion.
Now you're saying everyone ELSE is not allowed to give THEIR honest opinions ABOUT his opinion? He's the only one who is allowed to openly state his opinion? It's my opinion that what he said marks him to be a bigoted twat, no different than a KKK member or neo-nazi. Why can't I express MY opinion about what he said?
Note that he didn't just say he considered it to be a sin. He also equated it with bestiality. Furthermore, he went on to claim that blacks in the south were better off under Jim Crow laws. Can we say: "Bigoted" boys and girls? Good! I knew you could!
I'm sorry, but just because he claims that his opinion is based in religious belief does NOT make him immune to criticism for that belief. Religion is not some protected source of opinions that renders all claims, beliefs and statements to be immune from criticism. You can invent fake victimhood about Christianity all you want, it doesn't make it true. Gosh, such an oppressed religion, if only people that followed it could be elected to positions of political power someday...
Furthermore, in no way was his "right to free speech" abridged in the least. The right to free speech protects you from the GOVERNMENT oppressing you for your speech. He was fired by a private entity who was worried about their brand image, and that held beliefs contrary to his own. Is A&E not allowed to express ITS beliefs, by stating it disagrees so strongly with his beliefs that they fired him? After all, corporations are people now, according to the supreme court, right?
In short, he had every right under the law to state what he did. Nowhere, however, is there a guarantee that you are free from the
repercussions of your speech, nor is there a guarantee to be free from OTHER people calling you a bigoted asshole when the opinions you express are, in fact, bigoted.
-Arlos
PS. You really think that "most people's thoughts" about homosexuality is that it's the same thing as bestiality? Wow, that's an extraordinarily Mindia-esque projection of your own beliefs onto the rest of the populace.