Hank Williams Jr. was on Fox and Friends this morning and said this:
He was promptly sacked from tonight’s broadcast of Monday Night Football:
Hank Williams, Jr., the voice famous for asking millions of football fans whether they’re ready for some football, has been pulled from tonight’s broadcast of “Monday Night Football” over a comment he made on Fox News this morning.
Williams, who sings the lead-in song to the game each week, criticized the president for his golf summit with House Speaker John Boehner this summer.
“It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu,” Williams told “Fox & Friends.”
USA Today, among others, picked up the quote, speculating on whether the comparison would get Williams booted from the broadcast .
This afternoon, ESPN released a statement to the affirmative:
“While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”
ESPN was fine when their Las Vegas radio affiliate joked about, and seemingly advocated for, the rape of Sarah Palin just a few weeks ago.
From my perspective, Williams didn’t call Obama “Hitler”; rather he made an exaggerated comparison to the political conflict between Obama and Boehner. (Perhaps a more appropriate analogy would have been Reagan and Gorbachev.) It seems that progressives are doing more to call Obama “Hitler” with their accusations than Williams implied with his remark. Of course, only Williams himself can clarify that. Regardless, ESPN yanked him from tonight’s broadcast. By the way, what’s with progressives’ new sensitivity over comparing a president to Hitler?
Williams’s job would likely be safe had he done what Mike Tyson did on an ESPN radio affiliate and joked about Palin rape.
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