ESPN pulls out song from NFL broadcast after Obama-Hitler analogy

Hank Williams Jr. AFP

BRISTOL – Sports broadcaster ESPN is pulling its signature song from this week’s Monday NFL broadcast after a US country singer used an analogy about Adolf Hitler in talking about President Barack Obama.

American country music star Hank Williams Jr. was speaking to Fox News in an interview Monday morning before the broadcast of the National Football League game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Williams, of Shreveport, Louisiana, said of Obama’s golf outing with House Speaker John Boehner: “It’d be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”

Williams’ country song “Are You Ready For Some Football?” has been used by ESPN to market its traditional Monday Night NFL game.

Asked to be more specific, Williams told Fox, “They’re the enemy,” adding that by “they” he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

ESPN released a statement Monday saying, “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 did not say whether the ban would be extended past this Monday.

Williams said in the past he follows politics and has expressed an interest in running for the US Senate as a Republican Party candidate.