Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty patriarch, is peddling a new book and joined the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins radio show on Tuesday to explain how sexually transmitted diseases are God's punishment for homosexuality and other forms of sexual immorality, ThinkProgress reported.
Robertson also caused a stir in December after telling GQ that homosexuality is a sin and that African Americans were more content under Jim Crow laws.
"Do you think it's a coincidence that all of these debilitating - literally that can cause death - diseases follow that kind of conduct?" Roberston said, responding to Perkins' question about the controversy from last year.
"God says, 'One woman, one man,' and everyone says, 'Oh, that's old hat, that's that old Bible stuff," he said. "But I'm thinking, well let's see now. A clean guy - a disease-free guy and a disease-free woman - they marry and they keep their sex between the two of them. They're not going to get chlamydia, and gonorrhea, and syphilis, and AIDS. It's safe.
"Either it's the wildest coincidence ever that horrible diseases follow immoral conduct, or, it's God saying, 'There's a penalty for that kind of conduct.' I'm leaning towards there's a penalty for it.
"I'm as much of a homophobe as Jesus was. People who are participating in homosexual behavior - they need to know that I love them."
The interview with Tony Perkins ' Christian-themed radio was part of a tour to promote his new book "Un-PHILtered: The Way I See It."
"Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men," he said. "Don't be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanders, the swindlers - they won't inherit the kingdom of God. Don't deceive yourself. It's not right."
After Robertson's GQ interview was released by the media, A&E suspended him from filming new episodes of Duck Dynasty. Some expressed outrage that his free speech was being suppressed, and less than two weeks later, A&E backed down and resumed filming of the duck-hunting family's television show as if the controversy had never occurred.
Despite the outrage from the LBGT community A&E returned Robertson to the show after a online petition with over several thousand signatures demanded his return.
