After ESPN dropped Hank Williams Jr. from opening Monday Night Football tonight after Williams' controversial comments Monday about President Obama, the singer now says he was "misunderstood."
Says ESPN, in a statement: "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."
Williams, perhaps best known for his "are you ready for some football?" lead-in to ESPN's Monday Night Football, Monday compared this summer's so-called golf summit between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner as "one of the biggest political mistakes ever."
As Williams put it on Fox News' Fox & Friends: "It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu."
When asked on Fox to explain his analogy, Williams said Obama and Vice President Biden are "the enemy."
In a statement Monday night, Williams says that with his comment about Obama and Boehner playing golf this summer he was "simply trying to show how stupid it seemed to me -- how ludicrous that pairing was." Williams says Boehner and Obama "are polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will."
Although ESPN has a policy about its on-air personalities getting involved in politics, Williams has said he's interested in running as a Republican in 2012 for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee. NFL.com has a portion of the interview available. To watch more of Williams' Fox appearance, click here.
About Reid and Mike
Reid Cherner has been with USA TODAY since 1982 and written Game On! since March 2008.
He has covered everything from high schools to horse racing to the college and the pros. The only thing he likes more than his own voice is the sound of readers telling him when he's right and wrong.
Michael Hiestand has covered sports media and marketing for USA TODAY, tackling the sports biz ranging from what's behind mega-events such as the Olympics and Super Bowl to the sometimes-hidden numbers behind the sports world's bottom line.
