Longer version:

Gretchen disavows his remarks about the president.

Hank Williams Junior mouth flashed on Fox and Friends. He compared President Obama to Hitler. In addition, he said that Obama and Biden were the enemy. His bosses at ESPN didn’t like it and they fired him from singing “Are You Ready for Some Football,” his Monday night theme song.

From ESPN.com:

The Hank Williams Jr. song that has opened Monday Night Football for 20 years was not part of the opening of this week’s Indianapolis-Tampa Bay game after Williams made controversial comments about President Barack Obama.

Williams compared Obama to Adolf Hitler on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” show Monday morning.

ESPN, in a statement, said: “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.”

Williams issued a statement through his publicist, saying: “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.”

Williams, whose song “All My Rowdy Friends” has been the Monday Night Football theme on both ABC and ESPN since 1991, told “Fox and Friends” that he thought Speaker of the House John Boehner playing golf with President Obama “would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu … In the shape this country is in?”

 

In the first place, what was he smoking?  That guy is just an embarrassment.  Even the Foxies looked embarrassed.  Why was he on ESPN in the first place.

Folks are divided about issues like freedom of speech, employer rights, employee rights etc. Last week we discussed a teacher who called a tea party member a Nazi in response to a discussion they were having. Some people here have compared the two incidents. Are they similar or very different. Does ESPN have the right to fire someone they feel does not represent them well?

42 Thoughts to “Hank Williams Jr.: Out-Foxed and Outta ESPN”

  1. Starryflights

    He’s a drunken, grumpy old man whose ignorant opinions are irrelevent. His fame depends on songs performed 20 – 30 years ago. He’ll drink himself to death eventually. Good on ESPN for firing him.

  2. Second Alamo

    Too bad we didn’t get rid of some of those congressmen and woman who said similar things about Bush. So how many times has Obama referred to a segment of the American political scene as “the enemy”? BTW, I think many in this country are turning into grumpy old men when the discussion turns to Obama’s stellar performance. Enough Change already, how about some Success on the economic front!

  3. Elena

    Hank Williams Jr is a clear representation of what is wrong with this country. We are polarized because of people like him suggesting that finding common ground is like cavorting with the enemy. He sounded ignorant and completely unaware of how Democrcacy works. If he the “go to guy” on politics for Fox news, things are worse than I thought over there.

  4. Rick Bentley

    Wow, what a fool. He did deserve the firing from MNF. I like Kilmeade’s reaction, he obviously didn’t like the guy and wanted to watch him hang himself.

  5. Elena

    Furthermore, WHAT has Obama done that is anything like Hitler???? Has he rounded up citizens for deportation? Has he targeted specific ethnic groups? Invaded other countries? What the hell has he done? Passed healthcare so people don’t die of curable illnesses? WHAT the hell has he done?

  6. Rick Bentley

    “Who’s the enemy?” “OBAAAMAAA!” This is a great example of a backwoods hick not being ready for his closeup when put in front of a national audience.

  7. @Elena

    In fairness to Fox News, (and I hate myself when I am fair, especially to the Foxies), Gretchen disavowed his remarks about the president. She appeared very embarrassed and uncomfortable, in the longer video.

    I think all three knew that Williams had overstepped the bounds of appropriateness.

  8. @Rick, you sure made me smile. Backwoods hick sure says it all. And he shouldn’t be. That’s the sad part. He has been exposed to non-swampland his entire life.

  9. El Guapo

    @Moon-howler
    “In fairness to Fox News…”

    Let’s step back and take a look at that.

    Fox was aware or should have been aware that Hank jr. is not known for his wisdom. He’s an entertainer known for heavy drinking, drug use and other irresponsible behavior. Fox had him on and asked him to make political commentary. You don’t house a pit bull with a kitten and then blame the pit bull.

  10. Rick Bentley

    It’s just a morning show. I don’t hold it against them that they gave a famous man a few minutes of air time. They reacted appropriately.

  11. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Now, if David Allen Coe had said it, then I’d really have some soul-searching to do….but who cares what Hank Williams, Jr. says?

  12. Kelly3406

    I agree that Hank Williams got what he deserved. He had the right to exercise freedom of speech; ESPN had the right to sever their relationship. My only point is that the same standard should apply to teachers. They too have the right to free speech, but that right should not necessarily protect them from being fired for inappropriate public comments.

  13. Kelly, the teacher incident was an exchange between 2 people. If I understand you correctly, you would tie the teacher’s hands behind his back and not allow him to say anything while the tea party folks had free reign. That isn’t how it works. You are basically saying because he is a teacher he should not have been allowed to talk back.

    Contrast that with someone who is on national tv taking pay from a national TV station calling the President of the United States the enemy and likening him to Adolph Hitler. Surely you see the difference.

    Had the teacher gotten up and done that I expect he would have been censured also. Its a matter of who what and where at this point.

  14. Cargosquid

    Of course, Hank, Jr. DID NOT refer to Obama as Hitler. I saw that piece. The media are making it up.

    He compared a suggested outing between HIMSELF and Obama as likely as an outing together of Netanyahu and Hitler.

    Again, the media, INCLUDING FOX, commited knee jerk idiocy. Gretchen IMMEDIATELY had to distance FOX from his comments in case their were attributed to them. No one actually listened to and understood what he said.

  15. Rick Bentley

    “you would tie the teacher’s hands behind his back and not allow him to say anything while the tea party folks had free reign”

    Did the Tea Party guys bring kids along with them? And the teacher DID liken the Tea Party guys to Nazis. Nazis, Hitler – you see a big difference there?

  16. Rick Bentley

    Cargo, I can buy your arguement to a point if I just watch short clips, but did you see the longer clip? He calls Obama “the enemy” and obviously in the context of the “Nazis” remark.

  17. Rick, you don’t know whether the teacher brought kids or not. Kids are perfectly capable of coming to an event on their own steam. I expect the kids knew there was a town hall meeting about the Dream Act and came to make their voices heard. He just flat out called the one a nazi. Would AH or DB have been better? Probably not.

    Had Williams gone there and told the tea party folks exactly what he told the foxies, I doubt if anyone would have cared.

    You cannot equate 2 members of any organization to the POTUS.

    I dont know if the tea party guys brought kids or not. It is irrelevant.

  18. @Cargosquid

    Actually, he did. Why are you defending him? What media is making it up? Go watch both videos. There is simply no argument as to what he said.

    The argument is whether he should be fired or not. I personally don’t care if he was or he wasn’t. That is up to ESPN.

    He was just gross. But there are no laws against being gross and disgusting.

  19. Rick Bentley

    It may be irrelevant to you; it’s not to me. Anyone that intolerant should not be teaching.

  20. Kelly3406

    @Moon-howler
    On the one hand, I am happy that you agree that teachers can be fired for inappropriate comments. You and I just disagree on how extreme the speech has to be before the teacher should be sanctioned.

    I will say this. The teacher at the public forum instructs students on Government. He of all people should know just how extreme and intolerant it is to refer to someone as a nazi, fascist, hitler, etc. Instead othan wing students and the public the proper, fair way to debate an issue in the public square, he resorted to name calling. He came across as stupid and ignorant.

  21. Rick, please read what I said, I said I dont know if the TEA PaRTY people brought kids or not. To my knowledge, neither man was a teacher. That is what I said was irrelevant as to whether either of them brought kids or not.

  22. cargsosquid

    Again, he did not call Obama “Hitler.” He referred to the game as something like Nety and Hitler playing golf because Obama is the enemy to him.

    And yes, to many Americans, fed up with his BS, his associates, his socialist policies and beliefs, Obama is an enemy to the American way. Redistribution of wealth is wrong. Using tax policy to enact his version of “fairness” is wrong. His “Justice” Department is a joke. His HCR program is unconstitutional. His enforcement of the borders is a scam. He counts returning captured illegal aliens at the border as deportations of resident illegal aliens. He has arbitrarily decided, on executive fiat, not to deport illegal aliens unless they are criminals. His crony capitalism is a scandal. He blatantly lies to the American public. He has never acted as the President of ALL Americans, but only a Democratic Party leader. His domestic policies are the ruination of this nation.

    1. @Cargo, I would say you have a rather jaundiced view of things. I guess people can think what they wish.

      No one said he called Obama ‘Hitler.’ You are really nit-picking here. He compared. People can hear for themselves what was said.

      For the record, I believe I would find living in an America that you created a very scary situation. I hope it never comes to that.

  23. cargsosquid

    However, I support the right of ESPN to fire anyone for any reason. That’s THEIR right.

    Words do have consequences.

  24. And by the same token, I would think any teacher who wasn’t horribly offended by the suggestion that students be rounded up and deported from school should not be in the classroom.

    Anyone who thinks that is acceptable behavior should not be teaching. Think about what Thug-man was suggesting.

    @Kelly, I think thugman came across sounding like a brownshirt. I think Teacher Bryant came across sounding frustrated and immature. Now to be fair, when I first saw that story, I had been up most of the night watching a Netflix video on interviews with Holocaust victirms so perhaps the segue was too smooth.

    Let’s make another analogy. How about a baseball game during the summer in a small town. A teacher is there as well as half the local high school kids. The ump make a call the teacher hates. So the teacher calls the ump a son of a bitch and probably a million other things. That happens all over America all the time. There would be no teachers left if we held them to a separate standard.

    Yes, there are degrees. Nazi is small potatoes. I expect smaller communities might hold the standard a little higher than urban areas. If my kid’s teacher had been on Fox, looking and talking like Williams, calling the POTUS ‘the enemy’ and alluding to Hitler I would probably be calling for his/her ouster. Not sure what the outcome would be, however.

  25. Correction–I would not ask for the teacher to be fired. I would ask for my kid to be taken out of that class. Big difference.

  26. cargsosquid

    @Morris Davis
    Outstanding article. Nails it!

    Oh….did you mean to say that Obama’s political philosophies ARE NOT related to socialism, fascism, and communism?

    The Left never seems to mind if Obama is compared to OTHER mass murderers like Lenin or supports their philosophies. Just Hitler is verboten. Is Obama like Hitler? NO.

    But Fascism and Progressivism are related.

  27. Second Alamo

    Is the term ‘redneck’ not a racial slur? No different than ‘wetback’ in my book!

  28. Why is it that redneck bothers you, SA? Is Jeff Foxworthy a racist?

    Just out of curiosity, what race is it slurring? I have been saying it way too many years to self correct. I also have too many redneck friends to stop saying it. So just cover your eyes.

    SA, I probably wouldn’t use them interchangeably.

  29. Rick Bentley

    “I would think any teacher who wasn’t horribly offended by the suggestion that students be rounded up and deported from school should not be in the classroom.”

    Wow … to want enforcement of US laws is an extreme position? Perhaps we should prosecute any such teachers for “thoughtcrime” also and take them to Room
    101.

    Since I’m chiming in on everything, I don’t like that Jeff Foxworthy stereotype comedy either, it’s very negative stuff if you ask me.

    1. Rick, the students are children, there through no fault of their own. I don’t think America rounds up children and hauls them away, regardless of who their parents are. Rounding up children is an extreme position. Yes.

      I am wondering if one has to grow up in the south to appreciate redneck sentiment? How does redneck differ from using the word hick or hillbilly?

  30. Rick Bentley

    Cargo, I agree that he didn’t call Obama Hitler. I give him a pass on the Hitler reference, myself, in his original statement. But screaming that Obama is “the enemy” in that context as Hitler is to Jews is very anti-American.

  31. cargsosquid

    Un-American? Really? We have had people doing this since colonial times. Strong opinions and looking at political opponents as a vile enemy have been traditional since the beginning.

    Rude? Yes. Extreme. Yes. Grounds for “termination” by ESPN. Yes, because ESPN can hire and fire at will.

    But, not Un-American.

  32. Rick Bentley

    Calling the President your “enemy”, analogous to Hitler being the enemy of the Jews, is Un-American in my opinion. It’s beyond partisanship and into not being a responsible citizen.

  33. @cargsosquid

    And you will agree that un-American is basically an opinion. I would probably agree with Rick on that one, regardless of who the president was at the time. Being unAmerican isn’t illegal though.

  34. @Cato the Elder

    Thanks for sharing that. Last night on Prohibition it was pointed out that the election between Hoover and Al Smith was one of the most hideous in history. Any video on that?

  35. Morris Davis

    @cargsosquid

    The only place where comparing political enemies to Hitler dates back to colonial times is in the Palin-Bachmann history book (crayons not included). It’s in the same chapter as where the Founding Father’s didn’t sleep until they ended slavery and Paul Revere was ringing his bell and shooting his gun to warn the British.

  36. I’m with you Moe–I tried to follow some of the arguments on this thread and finally reached the conclusion that this may be one of the worst ones that Moon has allowed to run on this long. Another Forrest Gump moment in my very humble opinion.

  37. Bear

    @Second Alamo
    You’ve got to read up on separation of powers. The President requires help from the Congress to pass legislation

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