Willie Robertson, son of ‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch Phil Robertson, defended his father’s controversial anti-gay comments made in GQ late last year.

Phil Robertson was suspended from the family’s hit A&E reality show in December following an interview in which he compared homosexuality to bestiality. His son defended his father to CNN, saying, “You have to read the Bible and make up your own mind. You have to decide and God will ultimately decide that. We don’t profess to be God and we certainly don’t profess to be perfect at all because we have our own sins that we deal with.”

He continued, “Anybody who knows him – any gay, straight, black, white – anybody who knows Phil knows that he is about love and his message is about God’s love, and God’s grace, and God’s forgiveness, ultimately.”

Phil Robertson defended himself after the initial controversy. He said in a statement that his mission is to spread God’s word and “part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together,” also adding that he “would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me.”