Gary Rossington is in damage control mode over comments he made recently on CNN about the Confederate flag. A backlash in response to the guitarist's remarks about the standard erupted after Rossington, the sole remaining original member of the Southern Rock band, talked about being uncomfortable the negative implications of the use of the flag, which gets prominently displayed at Skynyrd concerts. Rossington said that the KKK and skinheads had '...kinda kidnapped the Dixie or Southern flag from its traditional and the heritage of the soldiers', and added the group did not want fans attending shows to get the impression '...we agreed with any of the races stuff or any of the bad things.'
So many fans reacted negatively to the CNN story that Rossington issued a statement assuring them that the flag will continue to have a presence at the group's concerts and that, 'Myself, the past and present members (that are from the South), are all extremely proud of our heritage and being from the South', and that, even though certain groups use the flag in ways he doesn't support, ''The Confederate flag means something more to us, Heritage, not Hate.'
HuffingtonPost.com
