Was it right/correct for ESPN to yank Hank from MNF? Did they need to put the hammer to ‘ole Hank Williams Jr.?

When did we start to cross the line from politics over into sports? Hank Williams Jr. made what is now being considered an outrageous statement on FOX NEWS’, ‘Fox and Friends’, saying that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were the enemy and does that make Hank Jr. a terrorist?

Did he become a threat to the Monday Night Football crowd on ESPN? I wonder how many people watching the game last night were even aware that Hank Williams Jr. even made that statement……..

Was this the right move by ESPN and was it just another case of being politically correct and if so, what happened to the right of freedom of speech and can’t you even voice your own opinion any more?

Is Hank Williams Jr. a threat to our National Security?

Was he speaking in terms of the president and vice president being the enemy in warfare/battle terms, or as in, they are the competition in the next election?????

Why not let the song/opening play and then issue a statement, at some time during the broadcast, that your network does not support or endorse the political statements/comments recently attributed to, or concerning Hank Williams Jr.??? Or run a little scroller at the bottom of the screen at th end of the football broadcast…….

Any thoughts on this one? Initial reaction says ESPN/ABC went too far on this one…….

8 thoughts on “Was it right/correct for ESPN to yank Hank from MNF? Did they need to put the hammer to ‘ole Hank Williams Jr.?

  1. I think Hank would have been ok if he did not compare the President to Hitler. If he would have said Obama’s policies are the enemy of tax paying Americans I think he would have been ok. By the way I used to love Hank and I am certainly no Obama fan. I’m not sure what all this all has to do with football.

    I think the office of president deserves respect whether we agree politically with the president or not and I certainly do not agree with the president on all or even most issues but I certainly would not compare him to the most vile, hated man in world history. I remember how I felt when certain groups compared then President Bush to Hitler. It is certainly wrong and should not be tolerated.

  2. ESPN 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.”

  3. Gfan,

    Well said. The office of the Presidency of the United States needs to be respected. Comparing the President to Hitler crosses the line. I’m not a big Hank Williams Jr fan, but I love the MNFintros. I will miss them.

  4. The metion of Adolph Hitler is what sends everyone over the edge…..On FOX you would expect Hank Williams Jr. to refer to Obama and Biden as the enemy…..He is on the right wing and FOX is the king of the Right Wing….I would expect the same thing to be said if Charlie Daniels was on there…..There is a political war being fought now on many fronts and the Republican primaries are just around the corner….Maybe as soon as Dec. of this year, but for sure in early January 2012…..

    We can not tolerate guilty by association references to Adolph Hitler, but the front door of the White House is fair game and there is long line of politicians and wanna-be politicians waiting to and wanting to get in that door and they are looking for those that will lend them a hand or ear…….

    Is there is a Rick Perry/Hank Williams Jr. ticket ready to be punched or will we see Mitt Romney and Charlie Daniels take their campaign on the trail down to Georgia?

  5. This is all on Hank Williams and no one else. ESPN would be stupid to keep the song up in light of those comments. The game is why we watch not some initial on the air song. Plus, I saw part of the interview last night when Hawk made the comments – the guy needs a razor and will I will be nice and forget the rest of that comment. The bottomline is that you must carry yourself differently when you are in the spotlight or in a public setting. When you represent some “brand’ you must make sure you did not do or say things that will negatively impact their brand. ESPN did the right thing and they just need to get a new theme song and move on. There is no need to continue point out why you will or need to drop Hank. People may not like President Obama and they may not have liked Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, etc.. but we must all appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy and respect the office of the president for what it is. We are only 400 million in a world of nearly 6 billion people. Only about 1 billion people on this earth have the same or similar level of freedoms that we have in this country. If we cannot respect that, then we are just living and act stupid. Comparing our president to a Hilter is beyond stupid. This is where those so called republicians and tea party people should be making their stands against these comments but instead they will (at in private) support these terrible comments. Anyway, this is about sports and these comments unfortunately came into the mix. The games are what is important on this level and Hank come just go away with his tea party people and it will not affect the games at all.

  6. from a UNC professor talking to to sports reporters in Raleigh at WRALSportsfan.com:

    Lois Boynton, an associate professor of public relations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said ESPN didn’t have much of a choice.

    “It was a logical step. ESPN has a reputation to uphold,” Boynton said. “It isn’t that easy to make some decisions like this. It does take some thought. You know, ESPN probably wrangled with this a bit.”

    *****Didn’t see anything from Coach Davis or Coach Blake yet……..*****

  7. Give Hank a break.

    We have to get past this and move on with das futbol.

    I for one are ready for some more futbol.

    Ralph Nader backs off us.

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