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Duck Dynasty Son 'Trying to Figure Out' If Being Gay Is a Choice

Duck Dynasty Son 'Trying to Figure Out' If Being Gay Is a Choice

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Willie Robertson says he's not sure if people are born gay, but he loves them just the same — proven by the fact that he works alongside gay people who produce his family's reality show.

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Ever since Phil Robertson, patriarch of the duck-call-creating family at the center of A&E's hit show Duck Dynasty, made a comparison between homosexuality, bestiality, prostitution, adultery, alcohol, and terrorism in a GQ interview last year, members of his family have been delicately dancing around the severity of their antigay views.

The latest volley in that effort comes from Willie Robertson, Phil's son who now serves as the CEO of the family company Duck Commander. The 42-year-old businessman and reality TV star sat down with Larry King for a wide-ranging interview on Monday's episode of Larry King Now.

In addition to discussing the upcoming Duck Dynasty musical, King grilled Robertson about the firestorm that surrounded his father's antigay comments in December 2013, when Willie and his wife defended the family patriarch.

Even so, the younger Robertson didn't fully agree with everything his father said in the infamous interview, he told King. In fact, Robertson contends he and his family don't harbor any animus toward gay people, evidenced by the fact that they work alongside several in the production of the show.

Robertson told King that "we love everybody," then noted that he and his family could just be saying that.

"But I've actually put that into practice," Robertson said. "There are several people in production -- you know, in this business, there's a lot of people that are gay -- and so I work all the time, daily, people at the network that I have calls with. In fact, when we were going [that controversy], some of the people that were working through, to come out of that were gay themselves. ... So we show our love when we work with gay people and accept them."

King opined that homosexuality could only be a sin if someone chose it, so he asked Robertson if he believes people choose to be gay.

"Larry, I'm trying to figure that out right now, I really am," Robertson replied. He says he's trying to determine how to square the claims from gay people he works with that they were "born that way" with the passages of Scripture that feature so prominently in Robertson's daily life.

"I'm not the judge. God's going to be the judge, so it's not my job to convince people to change their lives," concludes Robertson. "If I just introduce them to Jesus, he'll do that. All I can do in the service is love people, accept people, be kind and be respectful of people, and I think, as a family, that's what we do."

Watch the full episode at Hulu, with the discussion of gay people beginning at the 10:00 mark.

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Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.
Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.