Jesse Jackson Sr. has jumped into the controversy surrounding comments by Phil Robertson, star of A&E's backwoods reality TV show, 'Duck Dynasty.'
In an announcement sent out Tuesday, Jackson Sr. compared Robertson's recent comments about African-Americans, gay people and women to comments made by the driver of Rosa Parks' bus.
'At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law,' he said in the release. 'Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was 'white privilege.''
Jackson's human rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, has demanded meetings with A&E and with Cracker Barrel regarding the two companies' treatment of Robertson, who stars in the show as the head of a Louisiana family that makes duck calls.
Jackson's group, along with LGBT group GLAAD and the National Organization for Women, urged A&E to keep Robertson on an indefinite hiatus from the show, which the network started following Robertson's comments criticizing homosexuality in an interview with GQ magazine.
Cracker Barrel removed Duck Dynasty items from its shelves and then put them back Sunday after customers protested, according to a Cracker Barrel news release.
'We respect all individuals' right to express their beliefs,' the Tennessee-based company's release states. 'We certainly did not mean to have anyone think different.'
Jackson Sr. and the leaders of the other groups are demanding a sit-down meeting with Cracker Barrel and A&E in the next couple of days.
'It is unacceptable that a personality who has been given such a large platform would benefit from racist and anti-gay comments,' the group leaders state in the release.
wjventeicher@tribune.com Twitter @wesventeicher
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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