The Duck Dynasty free speech debate that erupted with the firing of the reality show’s star Phil Robertson suspended from the show the week before Christmas for his anti-pay remarks extends into the 2014 with Sarah Palin and others adding their opinions. Attorney Michael Arthur Vacca, The Detroit News, January 3, 2014, disputes the argument that Robertson has no free speech rights as a corporate employee. Vacca writes, “But the First Amendment creates a political right to free speech and the freedom to practice one’s faith irrespective of what the market decides. Certainly, I respect the free market and the freedom of businesses to compete for customers, but no business may do so by denying an employee the constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech.”
Variety’s Brian Lowry, December 19, 2013, argues that Robertson was not censored, “Robertson has every right to say whatever he wants. And A&E, as his employer in this particular enterprise, has every right to respond to those statements with some form of discipline if the company feels Robertson’s actions will negatively impact its bottom line or run counter to its values.”
Neal Wooten, The Huffington Post, December 22, 2013, writes that for all their steam about Robertson, Palin, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have not been consistent in their defense of the First Amendment.
Another commercial free speech issue has surfaced with the new year, the banishment of gun journalist Dick Metcalf for suggesting that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is not absolute. “…all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be,” wrote Metcalf. For expressing that idea, Metcalf lost his column in Guns & Ammo magazine, was dismissed from a TV show about guns and cut off by gun companies who used to send him arms to review. (The New York Times, January 5, 2014, by Ravi Somaiya)