CMT's Party Down South has been met with a lot of criticism since it began airing in January, but one actor has taken his disgust for the show and used it to try have it removed from the air.

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Ben Jones, who played Cooter on the Dukes of Hazzard television series in the 1970s and '80s, has long been an opponent of the program and famously wrote an open letter to CMT's parent company Viacom in January denouncing not only the show, but the network's decision to air commercials for it during re-runs of his program.

Now, as the show prepares to begin airing a second season, he is renewing his statements and in an April 28 interview with WHSV, has revealed he is still disgusted by what the show airs.

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"...To me it just says what's wrong with television. The people who produce these things, these giant corporations, don't connect with the Heartland of America," Jones said. "CMT was a station and a network that was built in the rural south on country music, which is about traditional values, and to put that kind of stuff on there and right in the face of America's families, it offends people. But they don't seem to care. They're cynical about it and they're driven by the bottom line, and I think that means it's up to all of us out here to let them know how we feel."

Jones also explained how those who agree with him could potentially help get the show taken off the air for good.

"Hook up with the Dukes of Hazzard Facebook, we've organized things there," he said. "Send an email to CMT, object to it and don't watch the network."

In his January open letter, Jones referred to the show as the "sleaziest" thing to make it to national television, and cited specific examples of how the show was just the latest in a long line of offensive programming geared to give off a bad impression of the South.

"I have several reasons to detest this show, which is without a doubt the most offensive and sleaziest thing ever to make it to a national audience already neck-deep in offensive sleaze, much of it courtesy of your corporation," he wrote at the time. "...We in the Southland are accustomed to being mocked, stereotyped and accused of all sorts of decadence and hatreds. The South has become a convenient whipping boy for the sins of the entire United States. But since we don't produce the films and the television shows, your false version of us becomes the 'accepted truth.'

"Party Down South is a show about 4 men and 4 women who are obviously being told by these Hollywood/New York producers to drink as much booze as possible and then to do the most banal and boorish things conceivable," he continues. "And these morons succeed at depraved acts that would have made the Marquis DeSade blush."

Jones is not the only opponent of the show. Back when Season 2 was announced, the cast was supposed to be filming in Pensacola, Fla., but a social media movement and backlash from the community forced a change in location to Athens, Ga.

"Jersey Shore and Party Down South are like the TV producers big inside joke of stereotyping us," Pensacola residents Amber Kelley and Bri Snellgrove wrote in a February Facebook post for the "Locals Against Party Down South" Movement. "PDS makes a mockery of our Southern pride by showing adults who claim to have manners and then cut immediately to some of the worst behavior seen outside of a frat house."

Since arriving in Athens, the show has continued to meet criticisms, including negative comments from the mayor of Athens, and the cast has reportedly found themselves kicked out of bars.

The premise of season 1 saw eight young Southerners moving into a Murrells Inlet, South Carolina Vacation home to party and live together for one summer. It starred 31-year-old Josh Murray from Louise, Miss., 28-year-old Lyle Boudreaux from Lafayette, La., 33-year-old Ryan "Daddy" Richards from Orange Beach, Ala., 26-year-old Walt Windham from Frankfort, Ky., 21-year-old Lauren White from Pineville, La., 24-year-old Mattie Breaux from Gheens, La., 23-year-old Taylor "Lil Bit" Wright from Rockingham, N.C. and 25-year-old Tiffany Heinen from Eunice, La.

Season 2 begins airing Thursday, June 5, and a special preview of the new season will air right after the CMT Music Awards on June 4.

Watch Jones' interview below.

Tags
Party Down South, CMT, Reality TV