Singer Hank Williams Jr. will serve a one-game suspension of sorts after likening the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler.
Appearing on a cable news show Monday morning, Williams Jr. likened a golf outing between the President and the Speaker of the House to a similar, hypothetical meeting between Hitler and current Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
ESPN released a statement Monday addressing the Williams Jr. situation. “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 Jr. first agreed to perform the Monday Night Football theme song (“All My Rowdy Friends”) for ABC Sports in 1989. He continued performing the theme when the MNF franchise moved to ESPN in 2006.
In the years following, there have been many imitators. Faith Hill has performed NBC’s Sunday Night Football intro since 2007, succeeding original performer Pink. ABC, meanwhile, has used myriad performers from Justin Timberlake to The Pussycat Dolls on its NBA intro.
(Information from espnmediazone3.com; Williams Jr.’s comments from New York Daily News)
