Clay Aiken, former American Idol contestant, weighed-in on Duck Dynasty Star Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments on "The Arsenio Hall Show" Thursday night, December 19, according to MSN Entertainment.
Aiken, who came out and publicly said he's gay in 2008, said that Robertson's comments and attitudes are "built out of fear," the report said. He told host Arsenio Hall that "society still has a long way to go" in accepting homosexuality.
"I think it certainly shows that we've got a long way to go when it comes to people being accepting and understanding," Aiken said during the show. "Homophobia, racism .... all of it's built out of fear. All of it's out of fear. And if you grow up in an area like Louisiana and you're not exposed to diversity, then you can be afraid of things."
Aiken was also frustrated with people defending Robertson who said that Duck Dynasty star has a right to free speech, the report said.
"I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that there have been people who've come out today and said, 'It's free speech, it's free speech,'" he said. "And I would ask them ... if the person had said something about interracial marriage, or said that we should put all children with disabilities in institutions, would we still say, 'Well, that's free speech, we're okay with that opinion?' And I think the answer is no."
However, Aiken also recognized that there has been progress in gay acceptance over the years, although total acceptance will not likely happen sooner.
"Homophobia is one thing that we're still a little accepting of in certain areas. I think it's progress; we'll get there," he said. "I don't have any belief or any designs on the fact that it's going to happen overnight."
The Duck Dynasty star was suspended indefinitely from the show after lumping gays with "drunks" and "terrorists" during Robertson's interview with GQ magazine.
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