Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans may not have been pumped up for their big game this past week as the iconic “are you ready for some football” lead-in didn’t kickoff last Monday’s game.
The song that has played before Monday Night Football games for over 20 years was yanked after distasteful comments were made by lead singer Hank Williams Jr. on the FOX News’ show “FOX and Friends.”
The comments Williams made targeted the Obama administration. When asked about what he thought of President Barack Obama recently playing golf with Republican Ohio Governor John Boehner, Williams said, “Come on! It’d be like Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.” Williams then added, “They’re the enemy! Obama! And Biden!”
While Williams isn’t an ESPN employee, the company still didn’t want to be affiliated with his remarks. ESPN has yet to say whether the actions will be made permanent; however, they’ve made it clear they would not tolerate this behavior.
Williams has since apologized, saying his remarks were misunderstood. He said, “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 president.”
ESPN’s decision to pull the lead-in may have been a little rash. I doubt many were tuning in to see what Williams had to say that morning. But, ESPN does not want a place in politics, understandably.
A bigger issue is why FOX News would even interview Williams in the first place. Williams isn’t some political pundit, he’s a washed up singer who happened to have a hit 20 years ago. From watching the clip, the FOX news anchors let Williams blabber on about his offensive political views, nodding like bobble heads as if they agreed. The news anchors should have stepped in and called Williams out for what he was saying and ask him to back up his offensive claims.
In the end, Williams does have his right to free speech. Even if what Williams was saying was radical right-wing political nonsense he is entitled to his opinions. But, Williams is also responsible for suffering the consequences. So, as far as ESPN pulling the lead-in, it was actually probably a wise decision.
Although it may have drawn more attention to the matter, ESPN doesn’t need to be affiliated with the political views of someone who isn’t one of their major employees.
ESPN is a sport’s channel, and they’re not looking to support polarizing political views. No matter whether someone is a Democrat or Republican, everyone loves sports. Having bad blood between two political parties is going to be bad for business.
As far as bringing back the lead-in, keeping it off the air for a month — or until everyone inevitably forgets what Williams said is the best idea Since they’ve made it clear that they don’t support these claims early, bringing back the lead-in for the sake of tradition won’t be a problem.
Chase Doerr is a senior journalism major and contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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