Sarah Palin has been vociferously defending “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson over the statements he made about homosexuality in GQ magazine. But the former Alaska governor told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Monday night she doesn’t even know exactly what Robertson said.
During his commotion-causing interview with GQ, “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson stated: “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. 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? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
Asked by the interviewer what he considers sinful, Robertson further answered, “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 then paraphrased the Bible: “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.”
During Van Susteren’s interview with Palin, the Fox News host asked Palin whether she had any objection to the “graphic” way Robertson expressed his belief that the homosexual lifestyle was immoral, even if she agreed with the substance of what he said. But Palin told Van Susteren she hasn’t even read precisely what Robertson stated.
“I haven’t read the article,” Palin told Van Susteren. “I don’t know exactly how he said it.”
Correction: This article originally said Phil Robertson made the comments in Esquire magazine. He made them in GQ.
Yet after saying she hasn’t read Robertson’s comments, Palin went on to characterize them as if she had.
“But, Greta, what he was doing was in response to a question about a lifestyle he disagrees with,” she said. “And yet he has said over and over again, he doesn’t hate the person engaging in a lifestyle he disagrees with. In response he was quoting the gospel. So people who were so insulted and offended by what he said evidently are offended what he was quoting in the gospel.”
Correction: This article originally stated that Phil Robertson made the commotion-causing comments in Esquire magazine. He actually made them in GQ.