Cast of Duck Dynasty 'Learned a Lot' from Phil Robertson Scandal

While the controversy surrounding the racist and homophobic remarks made by Duck Dynasty‘s king beard Phil Robertson has continued to grow over the past few weeks, no comment had been made by the Robertson family until late Tuesday night when Robertson’s son Willie appeared on Fox News’ “All-American New Year” special alongside his wife Korie.

When asked by conservative champagne flute Elisabeth Hasselbeck about A&E’s current decision to suspend his father from Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson replied that he and the rest of the family have maintained a good relationship with the network and are looking forward to getting back to work for the show’s next season:

“We’re just glad to get back to work, A&E and us are fine. The Robertsons — we are looking forward to getting back to making some funny shows and it’s a new year, so we are ready to break in a new year and start it all over again.”

Robertson avoided directly commenting on his father’s history of bigotry, instead adding, “We’re ready to move on, you know? And we learned a lot.”

Wait. They’ve learned a lot about acceptance and tolerance or they’ve learned a lot about media training and the things you should or should not say in front of reporters? Based on the diplomatic-yet-vague nature of Willie Robertson’s response, my money’s on the latter, which, hey, fine. The less hateful garbage spewed into the world the better.

There is a positive takeaway from all this: At least one person had a worse New Year’s Eve than you and that person was the poor P.A. who gave up their night to work the Fox News’ “All-American New Year” special.