Was HGTV right to pull show featuring right-wing house flippers?

May 10, 2014
Theresa Johnson

Cathy Lynn Grossman of Religion News Service takes issue with HGTV’s decision to cancel plans to feature twins David and Jason Benham in a new show, “Flip It Forward.” HGTV pulled out of a deal with the brothers after RightWingWatch.org circulated video of them making anti-gay, anti-choice statements at a political rally. She writes:

It’s Duck Dynasty redux… sort of.

This time, instead of the bearded patriarch of A&E in trouble for comments about gays and weird ideas about black people, it’s a social media teardown over the rehab twins’ harsh you-can-google-them views about homosexuality and abortion.

… Don’t like them? Don’t watch them. Bad ratings are a faster way to kill a show than any political blowup.

But can I watch people whose religious, social or political views may not be my own (even those who insist an island in every kitchen) take a sledgehammer to a mildewed basement wall? Sure.

Read her full column here. And let us know: Was HGTV right to can the Benhams? And would you hire a contractor to say, tile your bathroom, if you noted inflammatory bumper stickers on his or her truck?

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tgflux

May 10, 2014 5:24 pm

Said it before, will say it again: whenever one of these controversies comes along, ask yourself, "If the group being insulted was blacks (or Jews, or Mexicans, etc), would the controversy continue any longer than a disgusted shake of the head?" [Ask Cliven Bundy. Or Donald Sterling.]

The times have CHANGED: "this is the Lord's doing, and it is glorious in our eyes"!

JC Fisher

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