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Hank Williams Jr., the singer whose various videos for the hit song “All My Rowdy
Friends Are Coming Over Monday Night” has served as the intro to “Monday Night
Football” for 23 seasons, compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler during a
Monday morning appearance on “Fox and Friends.” The statement led to ESPN pull-
ing his popular intro segment, best known to fans for its “Are you ready for some
football?” ending, for Monday night’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. During a discussion on the 2012 presidential race, Williams began
discussing Obama’s golf outing with Speaker of the House John Boehner. He said it
was a political mistake, on par with “Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin] Netanyahu.” Even if using Hitler in an analogy was something that was
socially acceptable, the comparison still doesn’t make any sense. If you watched un-
til the two-minute mark of the clip, you’ll notice that Williams doesn’t seem parti-
cularly coherent throughout the segment. He stumbles over words and declared
Obama and Joe Biden to be “the Three Stooges.” (“That’s only two,” host Steve Doocy
dryly noted.) ESPN released a statement expressing disappointment in Williams’
comments. The network said the intro will be pulled for one game and any further
decision will be based on how contrite the singer-songwriter is in the immediate fu-
ture. Williams released a statement late Monday explaining he was “misunderstood.”
It reads, in part:
“Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was ex-
treme — 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 Presi-
dent.”
