Charlottesville

New Jersey Lawmaker Defends Photo of Him, Wife With Confederate Flag

Assemblyman Parker Space and his wife posed in front of the flag at a concert in New York over the weekend

What to Know

  • A New Jersey lawmaker is defending a photo he shared on Facebook of himself and his wife standing by a Confederate flag
  • Space captioned the photo, taken at a Hank Williams Jr. concert in NY, "Tailgating waiting for Hank. Hope no one is offended! LOL"
  • It's not the first time Space's view on the Confederate flag has sparked controversy

A New Jersey lawmaker is defending a photo he shared on Facebook of himself and his wife standing by a Confederate flag. 

Assemblyman Parker Space and his wife, Jill, posed in front of a Confederate flag while at a Hank Williams Jr. concert Saturday in Bethel, New York, according to NJ.com. The flag features the singer's face along with the inscription, "If the South would've won, we would've had it made." 

Space captioned the photo, "Tailgating waiting for Hank. Hope no one is offended! LOL." 

Democratic Assembly candidates Kate Matteson and Gina Trish called Space's behavior "disrespectful to the thousands of constituents he represents." 

Space issued a statement disagreeing with criticism. 

"Are you really trying to go there? It was a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. concert and I was there with about 20,000 others," Space's statement said, according to NJ.com. "Are you saying that those bands are racist? I am sure the African-American members of Hank's touring band wouldn't think so. Thank goodness it wasn't an Ozzie Osbourne or KISS performance, then you would accuse me a being a Nazi or a satanist." 

"When is this stuff going to end?" the statement continued.

It's not the first time Space's view on the Confederate flag has sparked controversy. In 2015, Space abstained from an Assembly vote to condemn Confederate flag displays.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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