Bubba Watson will paint American flag over Confederate flag on General Lee
Golf Culture

Bubba Watson will paint American flag over Confederate flag on General Lee

Bubba Watson general lee
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Bubba Watson owns the General Lee from "The Dukes of Hazzard," a classic 1970s show, reruns of which have been pulled by TV network TV Land because of the resurgent backlash against the Confederate battle flag. The primary reason? The Confederate flag adorns the top of the General Lee.

Watson responded Thursday to the backlash over the General Lee and the broader calls for the removal of the Confederate flag. He's decided to replace the Confederate flag on the roof of the car with the American flag.

The two-time Masters champion won the General Lee at a 2012 auction for approximately $110,000, and he has driven it into the player parking lot of a PGA Tour event in the past, including the 2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Watson's decision comes in the wake of the tragic, racially motivated murder of nine people after a prayer service in a historically black church in South Carolina. There is a movement afoot in the Palmetto State to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state capital building. Meanwhile, retailers like Walmart are removing merchandise they were selling with the Confederate flag on it.

NASCAR is asking fans to no longer fly the flag at their tracks. In 2012, the stock-car-racing body turned down an offer from Watson to bring the General Lee to one of their races.

"The show was not racist. But I understand why people would get upset with the flag," Watson said in February 2012 at the Northern Trust Open in the wake of NASCAR's decision not to let Watson drive the car ahead of its Phoenix race.

"Obviously, I don't stand for the Confederate flag," Watson added. "The Confederate flag was not used (in the show) for what people see it as today, so that's sad. But NASCAR was built on moonshining, so the show was built on moonshining. I thought it was fun. I didn't buy the car to get publicity; I bought it because I love it."

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Ryan Ballengee

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