News

Contrary to some expectations, the sales of “Dukes of Hazzard – The Beginning” haven’t fallen flat. In the first week of release, sales were good enough for “The Beginning” to debut at # 16. This is a respectable position for any DVD in its first week.

Sitting comfortably in the Top 20, “The Beginning” is expected to rise in sales as the spring break season continues. Whether “The Beginning” has the stamina to last long-term, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, its worth noting that the 2005 Dukes movie has sold 5 million DVD’s. This is on top of the robust DVD sales of the original series. With several Dukes of Hazzard titles on retail shelves, Warner Bros will probably find more ways for the Dukes to make a dollar.

Oh, and in case ya hadn’t figured it out, our last post was an April Fool’s joke.

It’s been brought to our attention by various groups that HazzardNet contains many offensive images, along with inappropriate content. Given the threat of boycotts, economic sanctions, and bad press, we have no choice but to comply to the demands and clean up our act.

Going forward, HazzardNet.com will not be showing images like these:

We will also remove all the Bo and Luke beefcake photos from the HazzardNet image gallery. Furthermore, we will remove all traces of the confederate flag from our website. We will photoshop the flag off of any General Lee photos. We regret the necessity but if we don’t do these things, our website URL will be blocked by at least three people.

We’ve also been made aware that Coy and Vance offend many longtime Dukes fans, so we are removing all Coy and Vance photos and all related posts from our Forums.

Same goes for the 2005 movie, which offended many Dukes fans. As well as the direct-to-DVD movie, just released, that contains content inappropriate for anybody over 15 years old.

Sorry, but all this stuff has to go.

It’s also been brought to our attention that we have several Forums threads that contain risque’ humor and images of Hazzard County Sheriff’s Deparment “uniforms” that include accessories best left to professional practicioners. Please accept our apologies for our ongoing display of bad taste. We’ll remove these posts as soon as possible.

And we acknowledge that the HazzardNet staff itself is offensive, and we are therefore firing ourselves and seeking suitable replacements. Of course, it takes us forever to get around to anything, so please be patient while we deliver the new HazzardNet. In the meantime, we hope you have enjoyed our rampant use of the First Amendment. We sure have! YEEHAAA!

You wouldn’t think it could happen in America, in the land of free speech. You wouldn’t think it could happen to two respected and talented individuals like Tom Wopat and John Schneider. But this time, ya’ll, the Dukes have really been framed.

The Dukes of Hazzard epitomized values like honesty and justice and helping one’s neighbors. The flag-painted roof of the General Lee was a nod to one of the greatest military tacticians in history, who defied overwhelming odds to win numerous battles. This symbolism was not an endorsement of prejudice. It was the allegory of “fighting the system” of corruption in a small town.

Despite the positive, fun-loving nature of the Dukes of Hazzard, the Cincinnati Pops caved in to pressure from an over-zealous special interest group and canceled an upcoming performance by Tom and John. This is a form of prejudice in reverse, and punishing these two performers for their association with one of the most beloved and family-oriented programs of all time, just doesn’t make sense.

Ben Jones, a/k/a “Cooter Davenport” has asked for fans to speak up. In doing so, we must conduct ourselves as befitting of everything the Dukes stood for, and display honor, integrity, and fairness. Please let the Cincinnati Pops know the kind of following the Dukes of Hazzard truly has. Let them know how much it would mean to us, to see this unfortunate issue resolved. Tom and John deserve to have their good standing with the Cincinnati Pops restored.

Email : publicrelations@cincinnatisymphony.org

Phone: 1-513-621-1919

See Ben’s message here.

While HazzardNet remains one of the oldest and highest-ranked Dukes of Hazzard websites in the world, we have apparently offended The People’s Republic of China in the process. Well, excuse the hell outta us! Is it our rampant display of freedom of speech? Our occasional use of the rebel flag? Our bad jokes? Whatever the case, we can only thank God that we’re in America and free to be a part of all that’s wrong with society.

Ben Jones has released a press release regarding the cancellation of John and Tom’s upcoming appearance at the Cincinnati Pops. The press release can by read by clicking here.

“According to Jones, the Cincinnati Pops was pressured to cancel a July 14, 2007 performance by singers John Schneider and Tom Wopat because of their connection with ‘The Dukes of Hazzard.’ Jones and Schneider were both told that the cancellation came after members of the Cincinnati community complained that the popular and perennial family show has ‘racist overtones.’ Both Schneider and Wopat have appeared previously with the Cincinnati Pops.”

Thanks to Renee for bringing this to our attention. Together, maybe we can get Tom and John’s appearance back on the schedule.