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Golfer Watson: I’ll paint over Confederate flag on ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ car

by Ben Kamisar - 07/03/15 4:39 PM ET

Golf star Bubba Watson will paint over the Confederate flag on the General Lee, a prop car from the television show “The Dukes of Hazzard,” in light of the brewing controversy over the flag.

Watson tweeted the news Thursday afternoon.

All men ARE created equal, I believe that so I will be painting the American flag over the roof of the General Lee #USA

— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) July 2, 2015

{mosads}Watson won the car after he paid $121,000 for it at an auction in 2012, according to the Associated Press.

There’s been significant backlash against the Confederate flag since last month’s shooting in a historically black church in South Carolina that killed nine.

Pictures of the alleged shooter, Dylann Roof, show him posing with the Confederate flag, and he reportedly told police he launched the attack in order to start a race war.

That’s prompted outcry in states that still fly the flag, including calls from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for the state to take the flag off of its statehouse grounds. The Legislature is considering that proposal.

A CNN/ORC poll from Thursday found a sharp racial divide over views of the Confederate flag. Two thirds of whites view the flag as a symbol of Southern pride, not racism. But 72 percent of blacks believe it symbolizes racism.

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