Megyn Kelly is very upset that TV Land “caved” and stopped airing reruns of The Dukes Of Hazzard because its iconic car featured a Confederate flag. To discuss this outrage, she chose a like-minded guest who suggested it's only southern-hating white liberals who think that racism still exists.
Kelly made a theatrical show of annoyance as she said in her introduction, “TV Land announced it is pulling The Dukes of Hazzard reruns off the air because the show features a Confederate flag on the car driven by the Duke boys.”
She said disapprovingly that what started as calls to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol have morphed into calls for removing Confederate flag merchandise and now for renaming streets and parks that were named after Confederate generals.
“NASCAR has banned the flag from the stands. The Dukes are off TV and now people are asking exactly how far do we want to go when it comes to scrubbing our history?” Kelly asked.
Being a self-described “straight news anchor” and “independent” on “fair and balanced” Fox, you would expect guests representing both sides to discuss this, right?
Wrong! We got white conservative Marc Thiessen as the sole guest.
“The Dukes of Hazzard was not about race,” Thiessen said. “This impulse to wash away history is Stalinist.” He asked if we’d be changing the name of Washington, D.C. and banning the Jefferson Memorial because George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. “How far does this go?” he fear mongered.
Kelly sarcastically added that All in the Family, Hogan’s Heroes and F Troop have “gotta go,” too.
Thiessen suggested that there is no more racism because look how far we’ve come and blacks and whites came together in Charleston.
Now came the blame game! Kelly asked, “So who’s causing this? So if it’s not the actual southerners involved in what happened in Charleston, who is causing this and to what end?”
THIESSEN: It’s white liberals from places like New York and Los Angeles who want to feel better about themselves. The fact is we saw in Charleston that the reality of the new south, black and white united together, there was no discord. They came together and it’s these white liberals from the Northeast and California who are trying to do this.
Rather than challenge Thiessen’s inflammatory conclusion, Kelly helped validate it. “Is it about the Confederate flag, which to some is genuinely offensive and disturbing, or is it about a general disdain for, a negative perception of people who live in the south?”
“That’s exactly it,” Thiessen told her. “It’s not about a flag. It’s about people who live in the south. It’s about a perception among these people in the elites that all southerners are racists and bigots who basically agree with the Charleston shooter and what he did and as we saw in Charleston that is absolutely untrue.”
Kelly blew the “blacks are the real problem” dog whistle by playing a clip of civil rights leader Andrew Young speaking against canceling The Dukes of Hazzard and fingering black-on-black crime as the villain.
Thiessen recited statistics supposedly showing that there were only five murders classified as hate crimes in 2013 (conspicuously leaving out other crimes) and only one was anti-black. Kelly File producers just happened to have ready a graphic driving home that point.
“So there’s no race war going on in America today,” Thiessen concluded.
Kelly murmured her agreement. She closed by saying, “But yet The Dukes of Hazzard has got to go and TV Land has caved.”
Watch it below, from the July 2 The Kelly File.
Isn’t this show also on CMT? (Country Music Television) At least it use to be and soon will be on somewhere. It was a silly cartoonish show that was popular with kids from that era.
Have a fun and safe 4th, everyone.
Wrinkled Rupert should begin casting for “The New Dukes of Hazzard” on Fux.
Bildo as Uncle Jesse
KKKlannity as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane
Kimberley Guilfoyle as Daisy Duke
Gomer Huckabee as Boss Hogg
Steve Doucebag as Luke Duke
Brain Kilmeade as Bo Duke
So Mark, why was it that people came together in Charleston again?
And Fox cals this “scrubbing our history?” Gimme a f*#kin’ break!