Probably to do with money!
Its that man again!!

When the real Buford Pusser died, he was, indeed, on his way to Hollywood to be in the sequel movie. They had just had the press conference announcing his participation the day before.
I tend to believe that Baker was committed to something else &, with the death of Pusser, they had to find another actor. Svenson was not a bad choice.
Obamunism! The death of the Republic!

I don't believe that Mr. Joe Don Baker made any such statement such as that. Just think that the man didn't want to be typecast as Pusser.

I believe those committments were 'Mitchell' and 'Framed'.

That's not true. Joe Don Baker became close friends with Pusser. He was even a pall bearer at Pusser's funeral. The real reason was because the real Buford Pusser was going to play himself. He died shortly after it was announced that he was going to do the film himself. After Pusser died Baker couldn't do it because of a prior commitment.

Joe Don Baker called Buford Pusser a facist pig after he made the first movie and refused to appear in the sequel. After Buford died Joe Don later changed his story and said he didn't do the sequel because the script was no good.