Too PC? Maybe. But, TV Land Has Every Right to Pull 'Dukes of Hazzard'

by Julian Spivey
The debate over the Confederate flag has been raging for two weeks since Charleston mass murderer Dylann Roof was seen in photos sporting the controversial flag that is deemed offensive and racist by some.

The controversy reached a new level on Wednesday, July 1 when cable television network TV Land announced that it would be pulling the popular ‘80s drama “Dukes of Hazzard” from its schedule. The show, which features the Confederate flag on the top of its famous Dodger Charger nicknamed The General Lee, had been airing twice a day on the network.

The decision by TV Land comes less than a week after Warner Bros. announced that it would no longer be manufacturing “Dukes of Hazzard” memorabilia featuring the Confederate flag.

Many have spoken up against the network’s decision to pull the show from the lineup, including stars of the show John Schneider (who played Bo Duke) and Ben Jones (who played Cooter). Those speaking out against the show’s removal from the TV Land schedule are railing against a society gone rampant with political correctness run amuck.

Schneider said to The Hollywood Reporter: “The ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ was and is no more a show seated in racism than ‘Breaking Bad’ was a show seated in reality. I am saddened that one angry and misguided individual can cause one of the most beloved television shows in the history of the medium to suddenly be seen in this light.” He also added: “Come on, TV Land, can’t we all just watch TV?”

The decision by TV Land is honestly a little overreaching, in my opinion, and this comes from someone who despises the Confederate flag and would like to see every one of them thrown in a landfill. However, people are forgetting one important thing in the controversy of the network pulling the show from its schedule.

TV Land is a business and has the ability and right to run its business in any way or fashion that it sees fit. Nobody really has any business, in fact, in telling the network what it should and shouldn’t be doing with its programming schedule. If TV Land wants to remove “Dukes of Hazzard” from its schedule than it has every right to do so whether its viewers like it or not. You, as a viewer, have every right to agree or disagree with the decision and if it bothers you too much than you have the right to refuse to watch TV Land.

This is really common sense and should go without saying, but the fact that so many people are acting like they’ve been stripped of a basic right leads me to have to come out and say it.

People are frankly making too big of a deal out of TV Land’s decision to pull “Dukes of Hazzard” from its schedule. If you really want to watch “Dukes of Hazzard” complete seasons of the series can be purchased on Amazon. 

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