I believe the TV channel has every right to fire who they want based on opinions they disagree with. But first of all, it's going to be their own loss, since it's a highly rated and profitable show, even if it hurts Phil first. Secondly, and sadly, it's a blatant double standard, everybody knows that under this same argument, A&E CAN also fire a gay person if he expressed his hatred on Christianity, homophobia, Republicans ...etc, but they wouldn't, if they did, they'd do nothing wrong, but would be under lots of pressure (not from their own audience) and likely have a discrimination lawsuit (essentially saying you're not allowed to fire gay people even they say something you disagree with, but you're allowed to fire Christian bigots because that's your free speech). People would ALWAYS say in defense of civil rights and forced equality "if you don't hire and serve minorities, it's your loss anyway" but if it is, why should we force it?