John Schneider: ‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ Speaks Out About TV Land Cancellation

John Schneider, who played “Bo Duke” on Dukes of Hazzard, is lambasting the decision by TV Land to drop the classic television show. The Confederate flag controversy, which somehow evolved after the Charleston church shootings by Dylan Roof, also prompted store bans of the Southern Cross flag.

TV Land announced that Dukes of Hazzard was being dropped from the lineup because the Confederate flag is shown on top of Bo and Luke Duke’s car, the General Lee, last Wednesday. Catherine Bach played Daisy Duke and Tom Wopat played Luke Duke on the hit television series.

John Schneider deemed the Dukes of Hazzard cancellaton by TV land “an error.”

“Do I think taking Dukes off TV is silly? Yes, of course,” Schneider said in a YouTube video responding to the Confederate flag-related show removal on July 1. “Do I think it’s an error? Yes. Because Dukes of Hazzard was one of the most beloved shows ever. And now it’s being cast in a terrible light that it does not deserve. The thing that you need to understand is that people have lost their lives [in the Civil War] this is not about a television show, it’s not about a flag, it’s not about white or black or yellow or blue or green or gold, it’s about the fact that people have lost their lives and that is what we should be thinking about.”

Before discussing the Dukes of Hazzard TV Land Confederate flag cancellation, John Schneider tweeted a photo of Dylan Roof burning an American flag while wearing a shirt with the Gold’s Gym logo on it.

“I am grossly offended by flag burning. But… is the Gold’s Gym logo to be considered a symbol of racism as well now?”

Schneider stated during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that he was merely “kidding” about with the Gold’s Gym comment in the tweet, but then added, “Come on, TV Land, can’t we all just watch TV?”

During a segment in a 2001 documentary about the making of the Dukes of Hazzard television series, creator Gy Waldron said that the use of the Confederate flag on top of the General Lee was not intended to be a controversial statement.

“Painting the Confederate flag on the roof of the car was done very innocently,” Waldron said during the documentary. “Because in the ’50s and ’60s it was very common to find Confederate flags painted on cars. There was never a political statement to be made by it. It was just part of the tradition. And once we had put it in there I saw no reason to bow to any pressure groups.”

Do you think the backlash against the Confederate flag is a knee-jerk reaction of political correctness or justified angst because of racism implications?

[Image via Screengrab/Twitter]