BRISTOL, Conn. - ESPN is pulling Hank Williams Jr.'s classic intro song from its broadcast of Monday night's NFL game after the country singer famous for the line "Are you ready for some football?" used an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing President Barack Obama. In an interview Monday morning on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Williams said of Obama's outing on the links with House Speaker John Boehner: "It'd be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu." Asked to clarify, Williams said: "They're the enemy," adding that by "they" he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. "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,'" ESPN said in a statement. "We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast." ESPN did not say whether the intro, synonymous with "Monday Night Football" since 1989, would be used again after this week's Buccaneers-Colts game. Story here. Seems a bit harsh for one political statement, the guy was just stating his own personal opinion. Thoughts, OT?
If you are part of, even if just providing theme music, for a national and widely viewed program you don't go around making ignorant and idiotic comments that could reflect badly on the only organization that helps remind the rest of the country you even still exist. Dumb move on his part and I can't blame ESPN for making the decision.
[QUOTE="mattbbpl"]Seems like ESPN was afraid of being associated with poor analogies. Pirate700
ESPN should be afraid of being associated with horrible sports analysis and made up stories. Unfortunately they aren't.Haha, I would never defend their sports coverage :P
One thing to remember, ESPN is owned by Disney (and Hurst) which also owns ABC. All liberal bastions and Michael Eisner former CEO of Disney backed Obama during the 2008 election. It's no wonder that ESPN pulled the song, at least for one night, if not permanently.
One thing to remember, ESPN is owned by Disney (and Hurst) which also owns ABC. All liberal bastions and Michael Eisner former CEO of Disney backed Obama during the 2008 election. It's no wonder that ESPN pulled the song, at least for one night, if not permanently.
WhiteKnight77
Or the fact that ESPN is a SPORTS based network that wants no part of any political imflamatory comments on either side due to it causing them to drop in viewership.. Their main goal is to get as many sports fans/people as possible to watch, not to promote a certain political agenda which would divide their base..
One thing to remember, ESPN is owned by Disney (and Hurst) which also owns ABC. All liberal bastions and Michael Eisner former CEO of Disney backed Obama during the 2008 election. It's no wonder that ESPN pulled the song, at least for one night, if not permanently.
WhiteKnight77
I'm guessing it has less to do with making an Obama comment and more to do with his comparing him to Hitler Regardless of how one may feel about Obama's policies it's a stupid, insensitive comment.
One thing to remember, ESPN is owned by Disney (and Hurst) which also owns ABC. All liberal bastions and Michael Eisner former CEO of Disney backed Obama during the 2008 election. It's no wonder that ESPN pulled the song, at least for one night, if not permanently.
worlock77
I'm guessing it has less to do with making an Obama comment and more to do with his comparing him to Hitler Regardless of how one may feel about Obama's policies it's a stupid, insensitive comment.
And referring to him as the "enemy". It's a sports show, not Glenn Beck.
ESPN has every right to pull the intro. They are a private business and may be concerned about how his actions may affect their reputation/customers. Hank Williams is free to say whatever he wants, but ESPN is also free to act however they want.
IF they were consistant I would have ZERO proble with this BUT they were not, they never did anything with anti bush comments(and some harsh ones) so I find this very sad
If anything though they did choose a week where nobody would notice it was gone
[QUOTE="fueled-system"]IF they were consistant I would have ZERO proble with this BUT they were not, they never did anything with anti bush comments(and some harsh ones) so I find this very sad If anything though they did choose a week where nobody would notice it was gone Who made anti-Bush comments?
[QUOTE="fueled-system"]IF they were consistant I would have ZERO proble with this BUT they were not, they never did anything with anti bush comments(and some harsh ones) so I find this very sad If anything though they did choose a week where nobody would notice it was gonescorch-62
Who made anti-Bush comments?dixie chicks I believe who were with espn in some capacity I believe at the time
ESPN has every right to pull the intro. They are a private business and may be concerned about how his actions may affect their reputation/customers. Hank Williams is free to say whatever he wants, but ESPN is also free to act however they want.
ESPN has every right to pull the intro. They are a private business and may be concerned about how his actions may affect their reputation/customers. Hank Williams is free to say whatever he wants, but ESPN is also free to act however they want.
sonicare
Nobody is disputing their right to do it. Just weather is was the correct move or a smart one.
[QUOTE="scorch-62"][QUOTE="fueled-system"]IF they were consistant I would have ZERO proble with this BUT they were not, they never did anything with anti bush comments(and some harsh ones) so I find this very sad If anything though they did choose a week where nobody would notice it was gonefueled-system
Who made anti-Bush comments?dixie chicks I believe who were with espn in some capacity I believe at the time I didn't realize the Dixie Chicks were ever affiliated with ESPN. Nor do I recall them saying anything particularly harsh. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure all they said was that they were ashamed that Bush was from the same state as them.
Seems a bit harsh for one political statement, the guy was just stating his own personal opinion. Thoughts, OT?topsemag55
And ESPN is stating theirs.
Harsh or not, they're concerned about their public image. They probably think that it'd be damaging to their image if they came off as condoning or accepting of Williams' comments, so they're trying to distance thmselves from those comments.
[QUOTE="topsemag55"] Seems a bit harsh for one political statement, the guy was just stating his own personal opinion. Thoughts, OT?MrGeezer
And ESPN is stating theirs.
Harsh or not, they're concerned about their public image. They probably think that it'd be damaging to their image if they came off as condoning or accepting of Williams' comments, so they're trying to distance thmselves from those comments.
It isn't as though Williams is hosting a show on the network, all he did was record a theme song. People don't even see an image of him on ESPN.
[QUOTE="topsemag55"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]And ESPN is stating theirs. Harsh or not, they're concerned about their public image. They probably think that it'd be damaging to their image if they came off as condoning or accepting of Williams' comments, so they're trying to distance thmselves from those comments. It isn't as though Williams is hosting a show on the network, all he did was record a theme song. People don't even see an image of him on ESPN. Except multiple times during the intro that plays on a weekly basis.
It's funny how everyone absolutely jumped on Williams Jr.'s comments as being "anti-Obama." Re-read that statement, and tell me exactly where he refers to Obama as Hitler.
Go ahead... I'll wait right over here...
...didn't see it either, did you? For all anyone knows, he was referring to Boehner as Hitler.
It's a stupid thing to say... but it's in no way anti-Obama.
It's funny how everyone absolutely jumped on Williams Jr.'s comments as being "anti-Obama." Re-read that statement, and tell me exactly where he refers to Obama as Hitler.
Go ahead... I'll wait right over here...
...didn't see it either, did you? For all anyone knows, he was referring to Boehner as Hitler.
It's a stupid thing to say... but it's in no way anti-Obama.
OrkHammer007
Oh I had no idea the US is enemies with Israel. It's pretty obvious he was referring to Obama as Hitler there. Even if he was referring to Boehner it doesn't change a thing.
It's funny how everyone absolutely jumped on Williams Jr.'s comments as being "anti-Obama." Re-read that statement, and tell me exactly where he refers to Obama as Hitler.
Go ahead... I'll wait right over here...
...didn't see it either, did you? For all anyone knows, he was referring to Boehner as Hitler.
It's a stupid thing to say... but it's in no way anti-Obama.
OrkHammer007
Even if he were referring to Boehner as Hitler it is still a stupid, insensitive comment to make.
It's funny how everyone absolutely jumped on Williams Jr.'s comments as being "anti-Obama." Re-read that statement, and tell me exactly where he refers to Obama as Hitler.
Go ahead... I'll wait right over here...
...didn't see it either, did you? For all anyone knows, he was referring to Boehner as Hitler.
It's a stupid thing to say... but it's in no way anti-Obama.
Ace6301
Oh I had no idea the US is enemies with Israel. It's pretty obvious he was referring to Obama as Hitler there. Even if he was referring to Boehner it doesn't change a thing.If it's so obvious, then point out the exact quote that says "Obama is Hitler I bet you can't do it, because it doesn't exist.
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