Hollywood had to learn that faith comes first in ‘Duck Dynasty’

“Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson had humble beginnings, but the wild success of his family’s reality show would have any spectator guessing otherwise.

“A lot of Christians told us like ‘Oh you can’t do this, you’re going to destroy your family.’ But I was like ‘if not us, then who?’” Robertson tells Glenn Beck, recalling the beginning of his family’s rise to fame.

“I felt firm in our faith and who we were,” he continues, adding, “You get a chance, and I felt like maybe God led us to this and said, ‘Hey, here’s your opportunity.’”

When Willie pitched the idea to his father, Phil Robertson, about starting a reality TV show, he wasn’t interested until Willie told him it could help get the gospel to more people.

“That was what attracted me,” Glenn says. “I heard people talk about you guys. They said, ‘There's this show, and they pray at the end.’”

While prayer and faith were a large part of their show, the Hollywood producers that worked on it at first weren’t pleased.

Willie concedes that the production company used to edit out “in Jesus’ name,” which they have since stopped doing. “I think they always struggled with what made it work,” he continues. “They would put shows behind it that were, you know, I wouldn’t say anti-faith but definitely you know, super worldly.”

When the viewers would be confronted with the show that followed, they’d switch the channel.

“They struggle with knowing, I think, especially, I think the faith part and the prayer part, how much that played into it,” Willie says.

“If you could boil it down in one sentence, what was the secret of the show? Why did it work?” Glenn asks.

“I think it was a combination of authenticity, faith, and funny,” Willie says.

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