ESPN Yanks Hank Williams After Obama-Hitler Rant

Last night, no 'Are you ready for some football?'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 4, 2011 6:37 AM CDT
ESPN Pulls Hank Williams Jr. 'Are You Ready for Some Football' Monday Night Football Intro After Obama-Hitler Comments
In this July 14, 2011, file photo, Hank Williams Jr. performs during the recording of a promo for ESPN's broadcasts of "Monday Night Football," in Winter Park, Fla.   (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

You may have noticed something missing from Monday Night Football last night: namely, Hank Williams Jr. asking, "Are you ready for some football?" as he's been doing for more than 20 years. ESPN pulled the country star's iconic song from the broadcast after Williams compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler yesterday on Fox and Friends. Williams is not technically an ESPN employee, but the company was "extremely disappointed with his comments," it said in a statement. No word yet on whether the song will make a comeback next week, the AP notes.

Williams was talking about Obama's golf summit with John Boehner when he made the analogy, saying it "would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu." In his own statement, Williams said, "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." Click to watch his bizarre Fox and Friends interview in full. (More Hank Williams Jr stories.)

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