It’s Official: ESPN Fires Hank Williams From Monday Night Football
It was odd watching Monday Night Football this past week between the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers without Hank Williams Jr. after ESPN removed his opening introduction for comments made during an interview with Fox News in which he compared President Obama to Hitler. Now, it appears football fans will have to adjust to the games on Monday night without Hank and his rowdy friends.
ESPN announced their plans to part ways with Williams on Thursday, according to John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal. The network temporarily removed Williams spot to avoid any controversy after his interview with Fox News earlier in the day but now–it appears they want nothing to do with him at all anymore.
Here’s a statement from ESPN on Williams courtesy of Ourand:
“We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.”
Of course, the ironic thing about this situation is that Williams claims he was the one who made the decision to remove the song from the segment after his controversial comments and not ESPN. Here’s what Williams had to say about the situation courtesy of ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio:
“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You [ESPN] stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”
It’s a shame this had to happen this way considering the introduction to Monday Night Football with Williams has always been fun to watch and it certainly will be missed. What ESPN decides to do from here on out is still unknown, but whatever it is–it sure won’t be the same without Williams.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for RantSports.com.
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Email Dan: Dan.Parzych@RantSports.com
