Most of the band died in a plane crash - there's one remaining continuous member.....what constitutes "Lynyrd Skynyrd" now may as well be a cover band.
They also fell into wokery and disavowed using Confederate symbols - in direct contrast to their original songs like "Sweet Home Alabama"..........at least until fans complained and they realized people were going to stop buying tickets if the band couldn't at least to pretend.
Actually most of the band survived. Van Zant - lead and 2 vocalists died.
Only Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve Gaines died. Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkinson, Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell all survived. Steve Gaines had been a fairly recent addition. (Ed King had left the band and later returned.)
So, since then a LOT of band members have died (Collins, Powell, Wilkeoson), so I won’t totally disagree with you about it being a “cover band,” but I think that’s a little unfair to the early Johnnie Van Zandt-era band.