File Photo: The "Dukes of Hazzard" General Lee car is displayed at the Barris Star Car Collection Auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum on May 13, 2005 in Los Angeles, California.
The Dukes of Hazzard are done...for now.
TV Land has pulled all reruns of the 80s series from its schedule, just one week after Warner Bros. "elected to cease the licensing" of replicas and models of the show"s iconic, Confederate flag-laden car, the General Lee, E! News has confirmed.
The flag has been thrown into sharp focus in the wake of the tragic Charleston church massacre, with many, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, calling for its removal from the Charleston statehouse due to its racist roots.
Retailers like Walmart also announced they would be taking the flag off their shelves, and even "Scandal"s" Papa Pope (Joe Morton) appeared on "The Nightly Show" to weigh in on the continued use of the flag, saying, "You think you love this country, what you love is that corruption of the red, white and blue you call valor. What you love is the satisfaction that mess brings when people feel they need to give that flag some credence like it stands for something more than hate."
MORE: Dukes of Hazzard star Ben Jones defends the use of the confederate flag
The General Lee, with a Confederate flag painted on the top, is perhaps the show"s biggest and most recognizable item, aside from Daisy Duke"s short shorts, and while many are on board with the decision to discontinue the car"s merchandising, the show"s stars do not seem to agree.
Ben Jones, who played Cooter on the series and is currently the proprietor of a Dukes of Hazzard museum called Cooter"s Place, weighed in on Facebook with a lengthy post explaining that his museum will continue to carry and sell the flag, saying, "I think all of Hazzard Nation understands that the confederate battle flag is the symbol that represents the indomitable spirit of independence which keeps us "makin" our way the only way we know how. 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."
In an interview with THR, Dukes star John Schneider also defended the show"s use of the flag. "I take exception to those who say that the flag on the General Lee should always be considered a symbol of racism," Schneider said. "Is the flag used as such in other applications? Yes, but certainly not on the Dukes. If the flag was a symbol of racism, then Bo and Luke and Daisy and Uncle Jesse were a pack of wild racists and that could not be further from the truth."
The Dukes of Hazzard ran from 1979 to 1985 on CBS.
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Published at 4:20 AM PDT on Jul 2, 2015
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