Warner Bros. has ended the long run of "The Dukes of Hazzard" on
TV Land, apparently because the souped-up 1969 Dodge Charger that is the best symbol of the show is named the General Lee and has a Confederate battle flag on its roof. The move is drawing much criticism, even from normally liberal quarters.
 |
Warner Bros. earlier stopped licensing
this reproduction of the General Lee. |
"The decision to remove the flag is right; the decision to strike the TV
show seems extreme and wrongheaded but entirely in keeping with our
times," Tim Teeman
writes for the
Daily Beast, comparing the move to an activist's removal of the flag from the South Carolina state Capitol grounds. "TV Land banning
The Dukes of Hazzard is a banal gesture of how
little we are prepared to confront the horror of Charleston, the
continuing gritty day-to-day horror of all kinds of hatred aimed at all
kinds of minorities."
Former U.S. Rep. Ben Jones, a Democrat who played Cooter Davenport on the show, is the principal objector. "That flag on top of the General Lee made a statement that the values of
the rural south were the values of courage and family and good times,"
he wrote on
Facebook. The co-star of the show, John Schneider,
told The Hollywood Reporter,
"I take exception to those who say that the flag on the General Lee
should always be considered a symbol of racism. Is the flag used as such
in other applications? Yes, but certainly not on the Dukes."
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