Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson stands by his faith, and his father.

His dad, Phil Robertson, was famously suspended from the family’s hit A&E reality show in December after controversial comments he made about race and sexuality during a GQ Magazine interview.

Willie and his wife, Korie, spoke about his dad during an interview with CNN‘s Kyra Phillips.

“(Phil) made Christmas very interesting for us,” said Willie lightheartedly.

Willie said he believed the GQ interviewer asked questions that would lead Phil to say what he did.

According to Willie, the interviewer “had what he wanted to put, and he was specifically asking this and that.”

“Phil just said what he thought, what was on his heart,” said Willie, defending his dad’s intentions.

Willie conceded that his father “did some paraphrasing there,” referring to Phil’s comments while paraphrasing a verse from Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

“You have to read the Bible and make up your own mind,” he said. “You have to decide, and God will ultimately decide then. We don’t profess to be God, and we certainly don’t profess to be perfect. Because we have our own sins that we deal with.”

“I believe what the Bible says,” says Willie.

Phil’s daughter-in-law, Korie, defended the family’s patriarch.

“Anybody who knows (Phil) … any gay, straight, black, white, anybody who knows Phil knows that he is about love and his message is about God’s love, God’s grace and his forgiveness, ultimately,” Korie said.

Ratings for the reality show have been declining in recent weeks, but the family doesn’t give it a second thought.

“We were able to use that platform to get out God’s message, and if it ended right there, it ended right there,” Willie Robertson said. “I felt like that was pretty much what God prepared us to do.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons