“its not easy to swallow (only see a pun if you want to), but a and e can hire or fire in a manner that they feel reflects how they want to be perceived.”
It is true that A&E can hire and fire employees as long as they comply with the terms of any contract they may have with the employee or a union representing the employee. If the employee has no contract and is employed in an “at will” state, the employer can fire the employee for any reason. The Robertson’s are employed under contract so any firing must comply with the terms of the contract.
However, the officers of a publicly held company (A&E is jointly owned by publicly held Disney and privately held Hearst Corporation) have a legal and fiduciary obligation to protect the interests of the shareholders which is generally interpreted as maximizing the profitability of the enterprise. Management is considered negligent, and vulnerable to shareholder lawsuits, if it deliberately takes actions which will reduce shareholder value. In this instance, a management decision to cancel the most popular show in cable television would likely be considered a violation of the fiduciary responsibility of management. Since Disney is a public company, the loss of the Duck Dynasty franchise would likely have resulted in shareholder lawsuits.
This explains A&E’s actions to date. A&E did not pull the show. A&E did not fire Phil and thereby run the risk of the family walking away from the show. A&E suspended him “indefinitely”, which subsequent events have shown was a small bone thrown to GLAAD which A&E intended to quietly allow to expire once what A&E expected to be a two or three day minor public relations problem had passed. Note that A&E even planned and executed a Duck Dynasty marathon yesterday (Sunday) despite the smoke and mirrors it was using to profess solidarity with GLAAD.
A&E management never intended to risk damage to the DD franchise or create a public relations firestorm. It expected Phil to either apologize or be quiet. It expected GLAAD to accept the bone of Phil’s suspension and go away quietly. If other media outlets had not fanned the fires, Phil would have been quietly reinstated in early January and the show would have continued as before.
Thanks to the firestorm, and the Robertson family standing tall, A&E is now backtracking. Since A&E cannot force Phil to apologize, and it knows if it fires Phil the rest of the family will walk away thereby destroying the show, the only way A&E can appease GLAAD is to cancel the show. If it cancels the show, the tort lawyers will begin signing up Disney shareholders for a class action suit. It may also be the privately held Hearst Corporation is telling A&E management it better not destroy a top rated show that is flowing millions of dollars of profits to Hearst.
In the end, money talks. While one or two ideologues in management might be willing to sacrifice the show, most executives will fight to maintain the revenue and profit stream that allows them to maximize their lucrative bonuses. None of these executives want to become embroiled in shareholder lawsuits which could be directed at them personally. It is likely that today the CEO’s of Disney and Hearst have agreed on a plan and are dictating to A&E management a strategy to walk this public relations disaster back as quickly as possible. In addition, the public relations departments at A&E, Hearst, Disney, and likely some outside contract firms are scrambling to message the strategic retreat and are trying to figure out how to turn a public relations disaster into more viewers for the Duck Dynasty show.
The inside the boardroom drama today at Hearst, Disney, and A&E would likely make a great movie. I’m sure the executives are hoping the signals they’ve sent that Phil will be back in January, plus the very public humiliation of Cracker Barrel, has taken the heat off A&E. If the PR people can get GLAAD to be quiet, over the next few days the attention of the DD audience/supporters will turn to celebrating Christmas and away from the secular world.
If GLAAD is stupid enough to demand Phil be fired or the show be cancelled, these highly paid executives will have a difficult choice to make. Likely they’ll sacrifice the A&E CEO, formally end Phil’s suspension, and throw a bone to the gay community by making a large donation to GLAAD or announcing they’ll develop a gay family reality show.
The wild card may be the federal government. It may be the administration is quietly pressuring the Disney and Hearst to force the issue with the Roberstons in order to get the show off the air. Under government pressure A&E might make Phil’s suspension permanent knowing the rest of the family will leave the show, thereby ending it. Then the full weight of the IRS and other agencies will come down on the Robertson family and their customers. All of this can be accomplished with a few well placed telephone calls with no paper trail.
Stay tuned.
“Then the full weight of the IRS and other agencies will come down on the Robertson family and their customers.”
I wonder what the backlash would be if the robertsons were audited?