Posted on 09/24/2012 6:45:26 PM PDT by markomalley
To many, the Confederate flag is a reminder of slavery and a symbol of racism. But to famed Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Confederate flag is just about rememberin’ their roots.
In an interview with CNN earlier this month, the only remaining original band member, Gary Rossington, said that the band would stop flying the flag at its shows because it was often misconstrued as racist.
“Through the years, people like the KKK and skinheads kinda kidnapped the Dixie or Southern flag from its tradition and the heritage of the soldiers, that’s what it was about,” Rossington said at the time. “We didn’t want that to go to our fans or show the image like we agreed with any of the race stuff or any of the bad things.”
But after backlash from the band’s die-hard Southern fans, Rossington took to Facebook Friday to clarify his previous statements.
I wanted to clarify the discussion of the Confederate Flag in our recent CNN interview. Myself, the past and 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, ‘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…
So far, the post has nearly 30,000 “likes.”
Heh!.....they must have gotten slammed hard.
Good.
That’s some fine back-pedaling, there...
Never give a inch!
Not a bad backpeddle, but at least they did. Tells me the pride is still strong in my South.
Ronnie must have come to him in a dream and threatened to kick his ass.
They offended their fans and not a small portion either
Looks like they don’t want to join the Dixie Twits as an afterthought in the music business.
“To many,” the Confederate flag is a reminder of slavery and a symbol of racism Got it wrong right out of the box.
To the Stupid,Ignorant and intelectually lazy....
The KKK was never about Blacks it was against Republicans that just happened to be Black by a substantial majority.
Gimme back... gimme back my bullets.
Michael Jackson couldn’t have moon-walked it better...
Amen boys, amen!!
Saw them after a recent Braves game. They were fantastic, as usual, but I didn’t see them hoist the Confederate flag, just the US Flag.
Despite his many personal struggles which started with mental issues then drug use Brian Wilson was the main creative glue of that band. His brother Carl had very similar vocal abilities as Brian as the song Kokomo proves. It is Carl singing in falsetto on Kokomo not Brian who was not involved with that recording. Carl had mastered singing the falsetto parts so well few realized it wasn't Brian. Still Brian Wilson is a musical genius.
Mike Love who now owns all rights or a controlling majority share it seems to the name of the band intends to complete their tour with replacement musicians and longtime member Bruce Johnston. This despite their new release was a success. The founding members deserved better treatment than this. There could have easily been The Beach Boys without Mike Love. Carl could have done his lead vocals. But there would not have been The Beach Boys without Brian Wilson. Jardine's contributions and talent can't be overlooked either.
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