WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Bubba Watson considers his orange 1969 Dodge Charger a trophy, a symbol of his success on the PGA Tour. Before he won his first Tour event, much less the first of his two Masters green jackets, Watson exacted a promise from his wife, Angie, that he could buy the car featured in the 1970s television show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Two years after his first tour victory, Watson acquired his dream set of wheels, known as the General Lee, for $110,000 at the 2012 Barrett-Jackson automobile auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. At the time that Watson bid on it, his wife expressed concern over the Confederate flag painted on the car’s roof. Watson said he told her, “It’s not about the Confederate flag, it’s about the show and what it stands for.”
Three years later, Watson could no longer ignore what the flag stands for in the minds and hearts of some people. In response to the wave of opposition to the Confederate flag that has swept across the country since the racially charged June 17 attack that left nine people dead at a church in Charleston, S.C., Watson said he had decided this week to paint over the flag on the General Lee’s roof. He said Friday that he would have the American flag painted in its place.
“Obviously I love the show,” said Watson, who owns the “Dukes of Hazzard” DVD collection. “But the flag is offensive to some people. There’s been enough buzz. I thought it was the right gesture for me to do.”
Watson’s decision came after the cable network TV Land removed “The Dukes of Hazzard” from its rotation and after Warner Bros. decided to stop licensing merchandise from the show.
“I’m still a fan of the show,” Watson said after his second round at the Greenbrier Classic. “There was no racism in the show that I can remember.”
He added, “Obviously, the flag is the controversy, not the TV show.”
Watson said he had driven the car home from the auction after he bought it. But since moving from Scottsdale to Orlando, Fla., Watson said, he has kept the car in the garage to avoid controversy.
CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY
1
COMMENT
“Once people start putting hatred on it, I don’t want to be involved in that,” Watson said. “So it hasn’t gone out of my garage.”
By painting the American flag on the car’s roof, Watson said he hoped to replace a symbol that was divisive with one that stood for unity.
“I don’t stand for hatred,” he said. “I think we’re all created equal.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/sp...-car.html?_r=1