Phil Robertson

College and football

As an athlete in high school, Robertson was all-state in football, baseball, and track, which afforded him the opportunity to attend Louisiana Tech in Ruston on a football scholarship in the late 1960s.^[10] At Tech, he played first-string quarterback for the Bulldogs, ahead of Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw,^[11][12] the first overall pick in the 1970 NFL draft. When he arrived at Tech in 1966, Bradshaw caused a media frenzy on account of his reputation of being a football sensation from nearby Shreveport.^[13][14] Robertson was a year ahead of Bradshaw, and was the starter for two seasons in 1966 and 1967, and chose not to play in 1968.^[15]

In his time at Louisiana Tech, Robertson completed 179 of 411 passing attempts for 2,237 yards. He threw 12 touchdowns, but had 34 interceptions.^[10] It was thought Robertson had the potential for a pro career, but Robertson was more interested in hunting.^[10] Bradshaw once remarked about Robertson's love of hunting, saying "... Phil Robertson, loved hunting more than he loved football. He'd come to practice directly from the woods, squirrel tails hanging out of his pockets, duck feathers on his clothes. Clearly he was a fine shot, so no one complained too much."^[16]

When Paul Harvey^{[citation needed]} approached Robertson with a recruitment to play professionally for the Washington Redskins, he declined because football conflicted with his hunting. Additionally, football was only about holding up his scholarship to him, while Bradshaw practically lived and breathed the sport.^[14] Robertson put it this way: "Terry went for the bucks, and I chased after the ducks."^[10]

Robertson later received a bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's in education.^[17]

Early career

Robertson initially spent several years teaching^[17] before becoming a commercial fisherman. In the 1970s, his marriage became strained. Robertson was running a bar in 1975.^[18][19]

Duck Commander

As an avid duck hunter, Robertson was dissatisfied with the condition of duck calls. He began to experiment with making a call that would produce the exact sound of a duck. He invented his first Duck Commander call in 1972. He received a patent for this call and the Duck Commander Company was incorporated in 1973.^[17] Today, the company of Duck Commander is a multimillion-dollar business, headed by his son, Willie Robertson.^[20] Robertson and his family were portrayed on the A&E reality television series Duck Dynasty, which ran from 2012 to 2017, and covered their daily lives within Duck Commander.

Other media

Robertson was featured in Steve Bannon's film Torchbearer,^[21] in which he talks about the absurdity of life without God, using events like The Holocaust to illustrate the point.^[22] In October 2017, Robertson joined CRTV as a contributor, hosting In the Woods with Phil.^[23]

In September 2023, The Blind - The True Story of the Robertson Family was released in theaters nationwide. The film details the tumultuous early life of Robertson, his wife, and their family until 1985, before their Duck Dynasty fame.^[24]

GQ comments

On December 18, 2013, A&E announced the indefinite suspension of Robertson from the network following an interview with Drew Magary of GQ.^[2] When during the interview for a featured article in GQ's January 2014 issue entitled What the Duck? Robertson was asked what he thought was sinful and responded,^[25] "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 paraphrased a Biblical passage from First Corinthians by saying "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." Robertson also questioned the appeal of same-sex relationships saying that a vagina is more appealing to a man. Robertson said that he does not judge anyone, but leaves that up to God saying,^{[2][26][27][28]} "We just love 'em, give 'em the good news about Jesus—whether they're homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort 'em out later, you see what I'm saying?"

In response to initial criticisms A&E released a statement from Robertson saying, "I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me". Later that day the network announced his suspension.^[29] After a strong backlash from supporters, including a Facebook page that accumulated 1.5 million likes and statements from political figures condemning the move,^[30][31] A&E lifted the suspension before any episode was affected.^[32]

CPAC comments

In 2015, Robertson made further controversial comments when he was awarded the 2015 Breitbart Defender of the First Amendment Award. In a half-hour speech to CPAC, Robertson asserted that STDs are the legacy of Nazis, communists, beatniks, and hippies. He also told a long and graphic anecdote about an atheist and his family being murdered, and that the assailants would say "But you're the one who says there is no God, there's no right, there's no wrong, so we're just having fun." His statements went viral.^[33][34]