TV Land already is getting angry calls from Dukes Of Hazzard fans after the network this week yanked the show out of rotation. The Viacom network had only begun airing repeats of the decades-old CBS series on June 10.
“We have removed it from the schedule and have no further comment,” A TV Land rep told Deadline.
The Viacom-owned network’s decision follows by about a week Warner Bros. Consumer Products’ announcement it would stop participating in Confederate flag merchandising. Warner Bros. had produced the CBS series that first aired in the late 1970s-early ’80s, and co-starred a car named General Lee that was festooned with a large Confederate flag on its roof.
“Warner Bros. Consumer Products has one licensee producing die-cast replicas and vehicle model kits featuring the General Lee with the confederate flag on its roof — as it was seen in the TV series,” the division said last week in a statement. “We have elected to cease the licensing of these product categories.”
TV Land had featured the series twice daily, Monday through Friday, until yanking it this week. TV Land had the series in a shared deal with another Viacom network, CMT and DoH was to have reverted to that network in a few weeks. CMT declined to comment on its plans for the series when contacted last week.
TV Land’s move also comes about a week after businesses began trampling all over each other to get out word they were dropping Confederate merchandise; including Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, e-Bay, Etsy, Sears, etc. That followed calls by politicians to tear down Confederate flags from government buildings after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine black church-goers, including state senator Clementa Pinckney, during a bible study class, in Charleston, S.C.
The flag still flies at South Carolina’s State House but, on orders from Alabama’s governor, Confederate battle flags were removed from its capitol grounds. Meanwhile, former Rep. Ben Jones (D-GA), known for playing the character Cooter on the Dukes Of Hazzard, defended the TV series TV Land now has removed from its lineup:
“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. Our beloved symbol is now being attacked in a wave of political correctness that is unprecedented in our nation of free speech and free expression,” he said.
Delivering the eulogy for Pinckney at his funeral last week, President Obama weighed in on the flag controversy, saying, “It’s true a flag did not cause these murders, but…we all have to acknowledge, the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. Removing the flag from this state’s Capitol would not be an act of political correctness, it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers, it would simply be an acknowledgement that the cause for which they fought, the cause of slavery, was wrong,” Obama continued, adding, “By taking down that flag we express God’s grace.”
this is awful, i am all for the removal of this flag but now we’re axing old tv shows??
changing the future is progress. changing the past is just lying.
But this is exactly what you get when you start the process of burning books. You may be okay with the fact that they take down the flag but they will not end. Now they want to take down statues. Orwell burning books. I don’t recognize my country anymore and remember you let the socialist do it.
The Confederate Flag has not been banned for any private citizen. The South Carolina State Senate voted to have it removed from the State House. The SC State Senate is 62% Republican.
But don’t get facts get in the way of your hate.
I agree – I’m biracial (Indian) and our family enjoyed watching the TV show. Good fun and car stunts my brothers and I would try to imitate on our bikes, etc. A shame.
Liberal Fascism in action. Disgusting. Disgraceful. Bring on the backlash. The South will rise again. If I lived in the South I would be flying the Confederate flag and buying as much merchandise as possible that has it. The insanity of having to remove every single flag from everything and everywhere has reached insane levels.
IF you lived in the south? Yeah, right….
It’s not liberal fascism; it’s fascism, period. First they came for the Confederate flag; where will it end?
they came for the confederate flag in 1861. They got it, too.
So true. Why are we flying the loser flag in America. I don’t see us flying the German or Italian flag after they got their ass whooped.
Really? You never see a German or Italian or even a UK flag anywhere? Ever? No Japanese flag either I presume. And since when the Union Army was done beating the South they got busy killing all the Indians, I hope we ban all their symbols too. Pathetic losers that they are at the righteous hands of the US of A.
I live on Long Island. Plenty of people fly foreign flags on their property (especially Italian). Step into the real world sometime before you gush forth your idiotic proclamations.
If we’re losers then go
you either live in the south or used to. No non-Southern person would think “the south will rise again.”
no sane Southern person would either. it’s just a small percentage of Southern people, making all of us look like terrifying hillbillies.
The union destroyed us once and they are doing so again. States rights is still something that I believe in, and the war wasn’t just about slavery that is a lie. Most southerners do not hate blacks and are good Christian people who try to help others, unlike liberal Yanks.
Yet so many southerners want the flag of slavery to remain on state grounds, and proudly fly it themselves. “Claim not to hate black people if you ask them” sounds a lot more accurate.
And of course the Civil War was about slavery. Just read the Articles of Secession.
The government isn’t requiring or even commenting on this. TV Land is a private company who made a decision internally. Agree or disagree with the decision, it’s not fascism of any kind.
I do live in the South and don’t fly the flag but I don’t think it should be banned because of one crazy idiot. Most people in the south are progressive and are not prejudiced and don’t believe slavery is OK at all. But we have a proud heritage and most southerners didn’t own slaves, it was mainly the wealthy plantation owners.
It hasn’t been banned.
CMT needs to be careful how they handle this. The Dukes audience is their audience. It will be interesting to see just how blindly PC their corporate overlords really are. Will they cut off their noses to spite their faces?
NASCAR has.
I consider myself to be pretty liberal minded, but this is too much.
What’s next? Will WB stop selling the series on DVD?
I know, let’s digitally remove the flag from the car in every episode.
If that’s true our family will buy the DVD before they do this (hopefully!).
I Am glad I bought all 7 seasons a long time ago and I made a legal legitimate backup copy in case the original gets damaged.
A deranged kid goes on a church shooting spree so we take Dukes of Hazzard off the air. Seems reasonable.
I just checked Amazon, and it’s interesting to note that they don’t sell confederate flag toilet paper but they DO sell American flag toilet paper. In light of what the stars and bars represent (sorry, sons of the confederacy, but that flag is treasonous garbage and so are your inbred ancestors), I do wish they’d make an exception to their no confederate flag policy and at least sell the toilet paper so I can wipe my butt with it.
That flag is not the stars and bars flag. It would be nice if people actually knew what they were talking about instead of being so hateful to others. Do they teach history in school anymore.
The sons of the confederacy celebrate a heritage of treason and racism with that flag. And colorful language notwithstanding, there’s nothing hateful about pointing out such a fact, however obvious it is. It’s like saying Donald Trump hates Mexicans; the person who points out his obvious racism is not the hateful one. That aside, thank you for your correction on the stars and bars vs. the battle flag. I went to school in Virginia and Tennessee, and yes, there’s actually a lot of stuff they don’t teach below the bible belt.
STUPID STUPID STUPID fucking STUPID PEOPLE. Leave this show alone and everything else. Get some balls people!
I Could not agree more
they EXPLICITLY said “they don’t mean any harm”
It’s ridiculous but let’s be honest: no one watches TV Land. It’s been circling the drain for a long time now like most other Viacom channels. Viacom’s recent attempt at rebranding it has also been a colossal failure.
Time to start burning books yet?
Good for the people at Warner Bros. It’s a treasonous battle flag that belongs in a museum, and represents a haunting past the United States is still reeling from.
Nuanced thinking and logic is largely lost on the American public today it seems. I’m sure as hell glad the Union prevailed and the south lost. And the KKK and White Knights and all those other groups can set themselves on fire and burn in hell for all I care.
But reactionary actions over symbols like this are pathetic. Does nobody consider context anymore? I mean, hell – a lot of slaves were whipped – we should stop anyone from selling any kind of whip in this country. Also many wore shackles – better not have shackles anywhere. As a matter of fact, we should probably go on and burn fire – cuz fire makes me think of all the burnt churches and crosses. I mean fire is just bad, bad, bad. Don’t need it at all in this country. Right?
I mean, if the Dukes of Hazzard and that car automatically means slavery and white supremacy, then everything I stated above is equally logical.
I love how few people actually know anything about the Civil War. I suggest the people with the hateful comments about the South actually visit Gettysburg. You might actually learn something. For example the facts instead of hateful speech hey did you know Grant owned slaves Robert E. LEE never did. Maybe you should research some facts instead of just popping off before you speak.
Agreed. Some people actually believe that the Civil War was not about slavery.
Danny, Do you even know what treason means? If Lincoln’s Union soldiers hadn’t of came to the South, then we wouldn’t have the Confederate Battle Flag. The South seceded from the Union and Lincoln wanted the money for the Union government the South could generate. The Union soldiers, generals, and Lincoln had slaves during the war. Robert E. Lee freed the slaves he inherited from his family before the Northern Generals freed their own slaves. I see it as a form of racism that the Union Soldiers were fed and clothed by the government, but the Confederate Soldiers were not. At the end of the war, the government collected Union Soldiers’ bodies from the battle graves and transported them to Military Cemetaries. The Confederate Soldiers’ bodies were left buried wherever they happened to be. Many southern families had no idea where the body of their loved ones were located. I am not a racist and I don’t see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism. It was a battle flag that my ancestors earned the right to possess. Several of my ancestors were killed during the Civil War and they didn’t own slaves. People that think the Civil War was only about freeing Slaves need to do more research.
Oh FFS!
First off everyone needs to realize there was slavery “under the U.S. Flag”. Are we to take that down as well? I am a Texan and also grew up a big fan of the Dukes. They represented southern hospitality, faith and family but never racism. I never look at the confederate flag and think hate or racism. If people don’t stand up for freedom of speech then one day there will be no freedom left. The next thing you know the government will be trampling states rights and trying to force gay marriage. Oh wait a minute the activist judges already did…. It’s a sad day in the USA!
The Confederate Flag was the flag of an armed insurrection against the USA, in the name of protecting slavery. It is perfectly appropriate to take it down from government property, and not ban any private citizens from flying it.
Which is exactly what has happened.
Removing the Dukes of Hazard is just about as stupid as it gets. There was no racism on the show, no prejudice shown on it, and it was about people that helped other people, and the Duke family having their fun escapades. Look at the social tension in DC because of the Muslim atmosphere. Are we offended- Heck Yes! Are we going to drop and stop supporting our president- We can’t!! Look at All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, The Color Purple, The Oprah Show, The President himself. why not eliminate all of them from the viewing media. They are all racially biased. We have had slavery from when the whites were taken into captivity in Egypt, People had butlers and maids that were also white- they weren’t all black. There are still white slaves, so get off your high horse, and get a life! Give us back some fun entertainment, and let us enjoy life while we can. We don’t like all the violence on tv. We want to be able to laugh. If you think the Confederate Flag offends, let me tell you that the Muslim Flag and symbols, the swastickas, and signs of the holocaust terribly offend me. Also it offends me how you have taken Christ out of everything. So equal rights for everyone, or for no one. Put back the Dukes, or take the Muslims and swastickas out and put God and the Bible back in. The choice is yours!
Well said Kandi!
hahaha! What are you talking about? Removing Dukes of Hazard was TV land’s decision. TV land doesn’t control the entire nation.
I wont be watching tv land no more,you people suck.
Instead of this ridiculous PC crap, why doesn’t hollywood start hiring HIGH level African Americans at agencies, studios, and networks? This is one of the most quietly racist industries in America. Just because you voted for Obama and take meetings with black rappers doesn’t mean your not racist!
Why not do both?
I hope Daisey Duke Sues for loss of income.
I’m all from removing the Confederate flag from present-day society, but this is an example of political correctness ridiculously running amok.
So is it going to be racist to watch Gone With The Wind now or are you weak knee morons going to ban that to?
The show hasn’t been banned. The flag hasn’t been banned. Nobody has called the Dukes racist. Imagined persecution by “weak knee morons” could be the sign of mental illness.
no it hasnt been banned but the only network that plays The Dukes of Hazzard, TVLAND has removed it from its channel lineup. If that ain’t banning I’ll eat my boots.
Before you eat your boots, try looking up the word “ban.” Nobody is forcing TV Land to do this. Nobody is forbidding the show from being broadcast.
Viacom (a private company) owns TV Land (a private company), and decided to take Dukes off the air temporarily (not a ban).
Nobody else is showing it because of the antiquated and ridiculous laws surrounding rights and distribution. Blame them that you can’t get your fix of the Dukes (except through DVD, Amazon, and online).
Stop imagining yourself a victim.
This is pathetic. This was a great family show for all to watch. If you can’t handle a flag on a car then don’t watch the show. People that want to bash the Dukes, have nothing better to do with there lives. I will skip this channel for a long time. This country is headed in the wrong direction and people want to place blame on things that dont impact anyone. The real problem is people not things!!!
Tv land is now blocked on every tv in my house,you cancel a show made in the 70s because of a car…if folks don’t like it they could always change the channel…I hope you go bankrupt!
I don’t like the decision to remove Dukes of Hazzard from TV land’s schedule . This smack of censorship of an art form, a TV show, a comedy. what other art forms are next? I fear we are on a very slippery slope.
I think it’s great. I don’t think the producers of the Dukes of Hazzard meant any harm, and I don’t think they were racist. But it’s 2015 — and it’s time we admit: what the flag stands for is wrong.
I grew up in the south, I’m southern. I’m very proud of being southern — there’s tons to be proud of — but there are things about the south I am also ashamed of.
and I’ll say this, and I don’t think I’m wrong:
the idea that a person who displays that flag in 2015 genuinely believes that white and black people are equal, and should be treated as equal, is preposterous.
Taking the dukes of hazard off the air because of a freaking flag is just insane. The dukes of hazard had nothing to do with race. Just because a few people fly the confederate flag and preach hate doesn’t give you the right to condemn an entire people. The KKK burns crosses and flies the American flag too, do you want to ban them? No? The extreme left preaches tolerance for different cultures, religions and races yet with the same breath degrades those that don’t think the way they do. I am proud of that flag because I am proud of sweet tea, being from the country, swimming in rivers, saying maam, respecting my elders, having a close big family, using manners, saying darling and dear to complete strangers, making everyone feel at home and everything else that is of the goodness of the south.
And BTW, I have known many black people that fly that flag proudly so know what your talking about before you open your ignorant mouths!!!
Nobody is banning any flag.
Bye Bye TV Land, Blocked on my TVs.
The more they try to ban it the more of it you will see, sales are up even without Ebay and Amazon and the flag is flying more now than ever on private property. Its Funny, People don’t like censorship and they really hate stupid censorship.