Jesse Jackson says 'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Jackson is 'more offensive' than Rosa Parks bus driver after anti-gay & racist remarks

Plenty of public figures have gotten involved in the controversy over A&E's Duck Dynasty. Star Phil Robertson spoke openly about some tough issues including his views on homosexuality and African Americans, and it ended pretty poorly for the reality star. The latest person to address this situation is civil-rights activist and religious leader Jesse Jackson. Though Robertson's homophobic comments have gotten plenty of coverage, his statement on growing up in a pre-civil-rights-era Louisiana have also stirred plenty of opposition.

"I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once," Robertson told GQ Magazine. "Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash. We're going across the field.... They're singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, 'I tell you what: These doggone white people'-not a word!... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues."

A&E has since suspended Robertson from the show for his comments, leading to a country divided over a reality television show.

"These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago," Jackson siad in a statement. "At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was 'white privilege.'"