Skynyrd Denounces Confederate Flag
Posted: September 22, 2012 12:13 pm
A politically correct Lynyrd Skynyrd, who would have thunk it? Truth be told, back in the 70's Ronnie Van Zant wanted to drop the use of the Confederate flag from their stage show but their label, MCA, insisted they continue to use it. Skynyrd were also supporters of the Carter campaign and were notoriously anti-gun (see "Saturday Night Special"), a far cry from the right-leaning Skynyrd of today (which bears little to no resemblance to the original band, the only similarity is in name only) which makes their Confederate flag statement all the more surprising. Perhaps to quell their fanbase, Gary Rossington issued the following statement on Skynyrd's Facebook page after he spoke about his feelings on the Confederate flag on CNN recently:
Johnny Van Zant, left, and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd
(Tim Mosenfelder / ImageDirect / September 20, 2012)
Lynyrd Skynyrd denounces Confederate flag, angering some fansI 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…
Johnny Van Zant, left, and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd
(Tim Mosenfelder / ImageDirect / September 20, 2012)