(MEDIA GENERAL) – A report from the New York Post says TV Land has pulled reruns of the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard” from its network.
While TV Land has not issued a comment, it appears the show, set in the south, was pulled for its use of the Confederate battle flag, popularly emblazoned atop the General Lee – the Duke boys’ famous car.
The move follows a trend of retailers backing off Confederate flag merchandise following the June 16 shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church that left nine black parishioners dead at the hands of a proclaimed white supremacist. Wal-Mart, Amazon and other retailers announced they will stop selling merchandise marked with Confederate logos.
Last week, Warner Bros., which owns “The Dukes of Hazzard,” announced they halted production on toy replicas of the General Lee and will make new models that do not feature the Confederate flag.
Two episodes of the show, which ran for seven seasons on CBS from 1979-85, previously had aired daily on the network.
Debates on the flag continue to swirl around the country, particularly in southern states where many people believe the Confederate flag symbolizes southern heritage. Others, including many African-Americans, say the flag stands for slavery, discrimination and hate.
Since the shooting, government officials from several southern states that continue to fly the Confederate flag or hold monuments of Confederate Army heroes have called for Confederate icons to be removed from state grounds.
