Hank Williams Jr.’s controversial comparison of President Obama and Adolf Hitler has landed him in trouble with ESPN. The network pulled Williams’ long running “Are You Ready For Some Football?” jingle from this week’s Monday Night Football match, explaining his comments earlier in the day were “extremely disappointing.”
"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 said in a statement.
Williams made the questionable comments Monday morning on Fox News’s Fox and Friends. The country singer said the president’s recent golf game with Republican House Speaker John Boehner was like “Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
After ESPN pulled the jingle, which has run since 1989, Williams released a statement saying the comparison was “misunderstood.” “Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme – but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me – how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the president,” he said.
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