'Confederate Flag' Tiles In Times Square Subway Will Be Changed, MTA Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Mosaic tiles in the Times Square subway station that resemble the Confederate Flag will be modified so that people don't think they're an homage to rebellion, an MTA spokesman told Patch.

The tiles — a blue X pattern atop a red background — are located near the 40th Street and 7th Avenue entrance of the Times Square subway station. The design is not a tribute to the Confederacy but instead a nod to Times Square's nickname, the "Crossroads of the World," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told Patch.

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"These are not Confederate flags, it is a design based on geometric forms that represent the 'Crossroads of the World' and to avoid absolutely any confusion we will modify them to make that absolutely crystal clear," Ortiz said in a statement.

Ortiz did not say if the sudden choice to modify the tiles is a result of a deadly white supremacist and neo-Nazi demonstration against removing a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia. The MTA spokesman also did not mention how the tiles will be "modified."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week that he will establish a 90-day study into removing "symbols of hate" around the city. In the aftermath of Charlottesville, a fight to rename two roads named after Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Johnathan "Stonewall" Jackson near a Brooklyn army base has seen a renewed commitment.

Photos by Patch