@spendius,
Quote: I think the GQ interview was a set-up but I don't know for sure. The guy's initials are PR. He's a rich and experienced professional actor. Would he blurt?
He has probably forgotten who he actually is. Being talked about is the oxygen of persona. Not being talked about is death.
As a result of the interview he is more famous than before it took place. More talked about. The videos of past episodes of DD are worthless objects unless broadcast again or exported. GQ has its name up in lights more than it had.
Well, he's really not "an experienced professional actor"--he's a man who is in the duck whistle and hunting equipment business who happened to wind up with a reality TV series that turned him into a pop celebrity and icon.
He's like Snooki from the reality series Jersey Shore, who now has another reality show, they are pop culture "personalities" who enjoy their media created fame and the cash cow it becomes for them.
And you are right, if those people are not talked about, it is death for them, because their spotlight goes dark. In that GQ interview, Robertson said he knows this media gravy train won't last more than another few years. So why shouldn't he try to milk it all he can?
I don't know if the GQ interview was a "set-up" but, like all interviews, it was done for publicity reasons. An A & E rep was at the interview, and Robertson was in control of what he wanted to say. He didn't "blurt" I think the controversial statements were all deliberate--that's what generated the publicity, for him, and GQ, and A & E. And the issue of GQ the interview appeared in, seemed timed to appear with the new season of Duck Dynasty, and Phil's new book, and Duck Commander's new line of guns.
And you're also right that the interview got him more famous and more talked about, and that's true for A & E's Duck Dynasty show as well, and for GQ magazine as well. It accomplished its purpose for all those parties.
I doubt that A & E figured they'd get caught in the cross-fire between the Christians and the homosexuals, or that it might affect Duck Dynasty negatively, because Phil's personal views on homosexuality were already known, and they've been careful to keep all his controversial views, and zeal for Jesus, out of Duck Dynasty.
So this entire dust-up has been a tempest in a teapot over what, one clearly iconoclastic man, said in a magazine interview, that landed his network in an uncomfortable position. It's really never been about more than that, although lots of others jumped onboard to promote their own interests.
And it's over.
A & E gave Robertson a fake slap on the wrist, then they kissed and made up, and everyone is laughing all the way to the bank.
.
