Lynard Skynyrd Upsets Some Fans

Gary Rossington, the only living survivor of the original band has distanced the group from the Confederate Flag calling it pretty much a symbol of racism as the KKK, the skinheads, and others have hijacked the flag for their racist views.

Raw Story

And in doing so, that last original member, guitarist Gary Rossington, has sparked a backlash among some of the band’s staunch supporters who see his move as an affront to everything the band once stood for.

In a CNN interview earlier this month, Rossington said that the flag had been hijacked by racists and, in the process, become detached from it’s original meaning as a symbol of rebelliousness and states’ rights. As a result, he said, he was concerned about the band being associated with the flag lest people get the wrong idea.

    This upset some fans prompting Rossington to issue a message on the groups website saying:

I wanted to clarify the discussion of the Confederate Flag in our recent CNN interview. Myself, the past members and the present members (that are from the South), are all extremely proud of our heritage and being from the South. We know what the Dixie flag represents and its heritage; the Civil War was fought over States rights.
We still utilize the Confederate (Rebel) flag on stage every night in our shows, we are and always will be a Southern American Rock band, first and foremost. We also utilize the state flag of Alabama and the American flag as well, ‘cause at the end of the day, we are all Americans. I only stated my opinion that the confederate flag, at times, was unfairly being used as a symbol by various hate groups, which is something that we don’t support the flag being used for. The Confederate flag means something more to us, Heritage not Hate…

  The Tea Party racist will ne up in arms over this, you can bet on it.

  Fans who commented in CNN’s comments section were a little bit vocal.

“ I guess this means they will be opening for the Dixie Chicks? “

“ This isn't the real Lynyrd Skynyrd anyway. They should have taken a name like "Obama's Politically Correct Sell Your Soul Make Believe Imposters" or something. They'll never be able to mimic the real Skynyrd's music and they certainly can't live up to their southern statesmanship. We hope you never come back to "Sweet Home Alabama" Cowards. “

Technorati Tags: Lynard Skynyrd,Confederate Flag,Racism,KKK,CNN,Current Events