His foolish mouth, it got him fired . . .
Hank Williams Jr. | Adambroachphoto | Wikimedia Commons
Please hum along with that headline to the tune of “His Cheatin’ Heart,” folks. Because ESPN today ended its relationship with Hank Williams Jr. His biggest hit ever, “Are You Ready For Some Football?” will henceforth NOT open up the network’s Monday night games.
According to CNN (click the link above), Williams pulled a “you can’t fire me, I quit!” act.
“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.”
A couple of thoughts here: One, it was stupid for ESPN to yank the guy’s song permanently. He said something dumb, they kicked him to the curb for it, and he apologized. The smarter move would be to accept the apology and put his song back on the show Oct. 10, and keep him on a short leash. This is going to turn him into a Tea Party martyr.
Two, Hank Williams Jr. has doubled down on stupidity by playing the First Amendment card. Does he really believe a private corporation’s decision in an instance like this is tantamount to trampling on his First Amendment rights?
That may sell to rednecks who believe the Constitution begins and ends with the Second Amendment. But seriously, where are the words in the Constitution that guarantee anybody a right to sing on a private corporation’s football broadcast?
It dovetails nicely with his rising star as a “victim” (of his own stupidity) though.
Somehow he’ll work around to blaming it on Obama — whereas if he had just filtered himself only slightly he wouldn’t be in this jackpot.
Your thoughts?
October 6, 2011 - 11:34 AM
This situation is exactly like the Market Building Foundation’s decision to not allow protests/peace vigils/etc. The Constitution refers to the government’s rights & responsibilities, not those of private industry. ESPN is not infringing on anyone’s constitutional rights, and neither is the (private) market building management.
The rules apply to rednecks and peaceniks alike.
WGARA.
A great example of genius skipping a generation. This guy has always been a clown, hack and buffoon. His Dad was great. His son a genius nut.
ESPN doesn’t have a very good track record for allowing truth-telling. It’s Northeast, very liberal. Nobody is allowed to insult the manchild.
The market foundation can clain any privilege they like, and I am not setting foot in that empty pile of mediocrity until they rethink their position. And discussing it and encouraging people I know to do the same. It would take about 2 seconds to put that overpriced, poorly managed, and 90% empty shell in the ground, and the “foundation” should have considered that before making their ridiculous stand.
The Plowshare people have a lot less debt and considerably less overhead. My money’s on them being the last ones standing.
Given that we now reside in a reactionary, overly-connected and sensitive society now, I’m not surprised. Politicians get calls to resign all the time for the stupid things they say. Is it right? Debatable. Does it infringe upon Constitutionality? Nope. Any employer has the right to fire an employee based on what the employee says, because it has the potential to reflect poorly upon the employer. This was one of those instances. And it’s similar to the same foot-in-mouth issue the Dixie Chicks encountered. This is why I prefer entertainers to keep their traps shut on political matters…unless they gained their celebrity through political avenues, it rarely ends well.
His Dad was great.
His dad abused drugs drank himself to death before age 30. That alone should put him in Dan’s hall of fame.
There’s a village searching for this guy. Nothing that comes out of his mouth is surprising.
If any of his defenders wish to ignore the hypocrisy of having supported bans on the Dixie Chicks but acting outraged by ESPN’s decision, they need to remember this about Bocephus: it took city boy doctors for that country boy to survive. And as for family values, if Hank the third never saw very much of his Daddy, it’s a family tradition. Because like his preferred choice for president Sarah Palin, when one thinks about ol’ Bo, does one think first of a highly educated policy intellect, or a celebrity with a gun?
And is it always the “damn liberals” who give a platform to celebrities to discuss things about which they have no particular knowledge, while Fox concentrates solely on presenting non-partisan analysts who deal in nuance rather than reactionary simplistics and sloganeering? Ask Fox, or Hank, or Sarah, and they’ll tell you the same answer. But hurry, ’cause all their rowdy friends are getting older by the day, and Hank, Sarah and Fox just don’t sell like they used to.
Just googled “what did hank williams say” to find a transcript. Wow. This was one of those hateful quotes that reveal more about the speaker as the quote is pondered further. I thought the right had received a memo instructing them not to be so blatantly stupid any longer. Can Hank Jr. read?
Did anyone ever ask his father for political commentary? In all fairness, his father might not have fared so well either.
And most of the “outrage” over ESPN’s decision is fake.
Maybe ESPN can hire an entertainer that better suits the political agenda of their parent company Disney corporation. I think Kanye West would be a good match. Or maybe Lady GaGa
Let’s organize a silent vigil on the sidewalk of the Market building to support Hank Jr.
Or maybe to oppose ESPN.
Or better yet, let’s join up with the Wall street protest and take a stand against that evil Disney corporation. They should be spreading their wealth around better.
These days the Right doesn’t only insult Obama; in their stupidity they even manage to insult *Hitler* by suggesting that he was gay, a pagan and leftwing.
I’m sure ESPN is worried to death about losing all of his rowdy friend MNF viewers.
Suzie thinks that booze and drugs exclude one from artistic greatness?! If you add spousal abuse we would not be left with much more than Thomas Kinkade and P. Buckley Moss.
Hmmm…A singer gets fired for criticizing the President and journalists applaud the firing. Funny how times have changed.
Of course Suzie doesn’t think generous pharmaceutical usage exempts a person from greatness — I mean, I’m sure she considers Rush Limbaugh a great broadcaster, right?
How many people would legitimately not watch MNF because Hank Williams Jr. isn’t performing the into? That would be like people not attending a baseball game because Rosanne was scheduled to sing the anthem. Well, on second thought, I would stay away from that…
I suppose a better analogy would be when Dennis Miller was on MNF. A lot of people griped about it, but by and large, IIRC, the ratings didn’t fluctuate much. What people did do, however, was tune in for the radio broadcast of the game while watching the video feed from ABC.
America’s love of football overcomes a lot of peripheral things attached to the broadcasting of football, but that have nothing to do with the game itself.
Henry, please read the blog post if you’re going to comment on it. I’m not applauding Williams’ firing. Nor am I applauding his comments.
The Dixie Chicks were on FOREIGN soil addressing a FOREIGN audience when they pronounced they were ashamed to be Americans because of George Bush. If the Dixie Chicks said this about Obama, I would be equally outraged. It borders on treason. Yet, no network banned the Dixie Chicks. Patriotic Americans just voted with their feet….no records…no concerts.
Hank Williams trashed Obama to a political reporter on a political program here in America….just like countless other entertainers trashed Bush for years. The double standard is glaring and the seething of middle America over this will be palpable.
This is what Natalie Maines said (in London, btw): “We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
So now terps is acting like that’s the same as Jane Fonda going to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and denouncing the U.S. for waging that. And (no surprise) he’s putting words in the mouth of Maines to make his point.
What an asinine stretch.
@1 Whoa whoa whoa, slow that crazy train down. The constitution exists to protect the rights of the citizen, not government. Government can’t have rights, it isn’t an individual. It isn’t at all the same as the Market building. He said something that pissed off his employer and there were consequences. The only way it would infringe on his right to free speech is if the government stepped in and arrested him for saying something stupid. On the other hand, the sidewalk at the market building is government property. It might be leased out to an organization but it is still property that taxpayers paid for. I think people should be more upset with the fact that whole sidewalks they paid for are being handed over to private entities.
Robert (and others) we have a caption contest launching at noon on Friday that touches on the Market Building and free speech issues. Please come back then!
Two things…
1. How is it that a very highly paid and very successful popular singer is so important to our culture that the slightest utterance from him will set so many people into a frenzy about the state of our country?
2. Are we arguing the freedoms afforded us as individuals by our laws and Constitution, or freedoms somehow associated to corporations and organizations?
IMO corporations are interested nearly exclusively in their bottom line. Whether those decisions affect the personal freedoms of an individual is rather irrelevant to them.
A close listen to the poorly educated but bellicose Mr. Williams’s remarks shows that his analogy could just as well suggest that he is comparing Boehner to Hitler, and our president to Netanyahu. Would that equally valid interpretation of his careless rhetoric change any opinions of the fading entertainers’ expertise on policy matters?
And for the poster who alludes to a Disney political agenda, how would you say the deep roots and ongoing minority interest in Disney by its’ Mormon founding family align with the agenda of the most prominent Republican disciple of Mormon biblical revision, a human shell corporation named Mitt Romney? (That’s not rhetoric; Romney himself insists: “corporations are people too, my friend”).
“How is it that a very highly paid and very successful popular singer is so important to our culture …”
Who are you talking about.
Boycotting the Market Building is just plain silly. You’re not hurting anyone but the people who are trying to make a living running their business inside the building. I’m sure the people on the board don’t rely on the market building for their income. Do they even get paid for being on the board?
As for dropping the song from MNF I’m OK with it for several reasons. First, ESPN is not government run so they can do what they want. And secondly, and most importantly, I hate the song. I liked it much better when MNF used their own music for the shows intro. Converting an old country song was stupid in the first place.
” You’re not hurting anyone but the people who are trying to make a living running their business inside the building.”
Well, maybe they should lean on the foundation a little. There are dozens of places to eat downtown that I can visit and patronize a local businessperson – not eating in the market building would be the easiest thing in the world. I don’t eat at McDonalds either, but I don’t consider that a “boycott”.
No Dan. It’s not the same as Jane fonda in Hanoi and where did you get that from. I paraphrased her comments and to me, your quote of her is worse.
One never trashes their own family to others. Trashing George Bush to a foreign audience on foreign soil, to me , is unforgivable. But they have every right to do it.
I would think that you would be the first one in line to protect political speech here in America. Do we really want to live in a sterile world where we are afraid to criticize the president?
Here is what I don’t get – how did he compare Obama to Hitler?
Because of the ordering of the names? Had he reversed the order, and said “Netanyahu and Hitler,” would people then assume he was comparing Boehner to Hitler?
I’d be willing to bet that wouldn’t have garnered any major fuss, would it?
His answer to it, that he was showing the absurdity of the pairing makes more sense to me than someone saying he said Obama is like Hitler.
terps-
“The Dixie Chicks were on FOREIGN soil addressing a FOREIGN audience when they pronounced they were ashamed to be Americans because of George Bush.”
Why does it matter where it was?
“If the Dixie Chicks said this about Obama, I would be equally outraged.”
At least you’d be consistently wrong.
“It borders on treason.”
No it doesn’t.
“Patriotic Americans just voted with their feet….no records…no concerts.”
No records or concerts? From Wiki: “Taking the Long Way debuted at number one on both the U.S. pop albums chart and the U.S. country albums chart, selling 526,000 copies in the first week (the year’s second-best such total for any country act) and making it a gold record within its first week, despite having little or no airplay in areas that had once embraced them. The Chicks became the first female band in chart history to have three albums debut at No. 1.” It was the ninth best selling album that year. It also won five Grammys.
There’s no question they suffered a hit to sales and popularity, but to say “no records or concerts” is a ridiculous overstatement.
#27 Kristen, suppose the Market Foundation allowed the Tea Party to demonstrate in front of their building, and suppose the Plowshare movement was not even in the equation, much as the Tea Party is not presently (at least as far as I know), would you patronize the market building? How many people do not patronize this establishment because of these protests? How many would not if the Tea Party were allowed there? Should the Tea Party ask to be allowed the same privilege, should the market foundation agree? The American Nazi Party, the Communist Party USA? I see this as a business decision and think these demonstrations should take place at public venues. I’m saying this assuming that somehow the foundation can control the activity in front of their building. A sidewalk, I assumed is public, but I guess that is another matter. I’ve not followed this thread closely so if this is covering old news, sorry.
“the seething of middle America over this will be palpable.” Somehow, I doubt it.
“26.Boycotting the Market Building is just plain silly. You’re not hurting anyone but the people who are trying to make a living running their business inside the building. I’m sure the people on the board don’t rely on the market building for their income. Do they even get paid for being on the board?”
I agree OG.
terps,
a little while ago you were saying that Maine’s comment (that she was against the Iraq invasion, and embarrassed that the president was from Texas) “borders on treason.” Actually, what Jane Fonda did bordered on treason. Now you’re saying what the Dixie Chicks said is “not the same as Jane fonda in Hanoi.” So now I guess you don’t think what the Dixie Chicks said bordered on treason, because Jane Fonda’s action did and they weren’t the same. Do I have that right?
OR, is it that Jane Fonda COMMITTED treason and the Maines’ action still “borders on it,” and it was “unforgivable,” except that you believe she has “every right to do it.” Your words there. That she has very right to commit actions that border on treason. Because it kinda sounds like you’re real close to defending treason with that statement.
I’m merely trying to clarify. Help the rest of us out here. Please.
Jason, welcome back. Glad you’re back.
I sincerely believe you will like my Friday morning opener. It pops up at 8 a.m.
ESPN parting ways with Hank Williams Jr. is like the Nazis breaking their non-aggression pact with the Soviets.
(h/t deadspin)
Dixie Chicks popularity and sales basicallly went to hell after their their unpatriotic comments during wartime. America loved its president then. A far cry from today.
Not a particular comment on the firing issue, However, i’ve been wondering for years why ESPN has stuck with the same theme song for so long. It was getting real boring. ESPN should have dumped the song a long time ago and maybe not made a political statement doing it. I really doubt anybody watches or began watching football because of HWJr. Certainly nobody will quit watching MNF because of this flap.
Suzie-
Read #30. They did take a hit, but they also charted the ninth best selling album of the year. Their concert territory has changed, but they have no problem selling tickets in venues not located in certain areas.
Criticizing our government is one of the most patriotic things we can do. Celebrating or praising is easy. It requires no thinking, no insight, not even attention. But approaching your government like an adult and realizing that regardless of its positives, it is still made up of human beings who are susceptible to all of humanity’s flaws. To say nothing in the face of its failings is to advocate those failings.
Nice sentence fragment Jason. Let’s try, “To realize that our government is made up of fallible humans is to approach it like an adult and not a fawning child. Government is the last thing to which we should grant unconditional love.”
“Criticizing our government when a Democrat’s in the White House is one of the most patriotic things we can do.”
I fixed Jason’s line so it would be palatable to Suzie.
Hank learned an important lesson about the responsibility we all hold when it comes to free speech. We are allowed to speak our opinions, but others can hold us responsible for those words.
Thanks to the Editorial Board’s Opinions area, I know a certain dentist I will never visit again because of his crazy opinions. I doubt I’d utilize a lot of people’s services if I had a choice and one of my choices belonged to a lunatic who acts like a complete ass like Hank Jr. did.
Consequences for acting like a total jackass. What a novel idea!
PS Dan, new IP addy, on vacation!
scott whitaker, they already hold functions in the park up the way, near the library…if I were interested in going into the library, it would not deter me. And yes if the TP wanted to stand on that spot by the market, if I wanted the food inside I’d still go in. If the Klan wanted to stand on that spot (peacefully) I guess I’d have to support that too.
Now if one of the businesses in the market made a big deal about being owned by a TP person and had nasty signs about Obama hung around, I wouldn’t patronize that business, but that’s different.
I don’t care if the board members get paid, and I don’t see why that matters, and as I already said, I can choose from a lot of places to eat downtown.
I have a feeling that if they’d decided to ban anyone carrying a gun from walking on “their” sidewalk, there’d be a lot more hue and cry.
Let’s add this to te comments on the Dixie Xhixks:
“As of 2009, they have won 13 Grammy Awards, with 5 of them earned in 2007 including the coveted Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Taking the Long Way. As of July 2010, with 30.5 million certified albums,[3] and sales of 26,733,000 albums in the U.S., they have become the top selling all-female band in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era.”
Wow, that’s so unsuccessful. Obviously Nobody’s buying their music, right suzie and terps?
Suzie just LOVES being wrong.
#44 Wow, the Dixie Xhixks??? I’m going to claim that my “c” key wasn’t working.
Two of the Dixie Chicks were in Courtyard Hounds last spring playing in the Down By The River festival…it was bad weather, but they were great.
“there’d be a lot more hue and cry.
Comment by Kristen — October”
what does that mean, a lot more hue.
fyi
a gradation or variety of a color; tint: pale hues.
2.
the property of light by which the color of an object is classified as red, blue, green, or yellow in reference to the spectrum.
3.
color: all the hues of the rainbow.
4.
form or appearance.
dont use words you dont understand dear. makes you look more ignorant..if possible
kristen supports the KKK no surprise there following in robert kkk byrds footsteps are ya?
#47 You are critical of Kristen’s writing? Ye who eschews punctuation and has no clue about syntax? Your writing is that of a 7th grader who has never read a book and whose only writing experience is texting girlfriends about the boy in the second row…
Oh, you might want to check this out about “hue and cry”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue_and_cry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue_and_cry
“In contemporary terms, the hue and cry is also used figuratively to describe the behaviour of the news media, or to other groups that seek to increase awareness of a perceived injustice.”
Dear lord you’re stupid, pammala. You have a more limited vocabulary than my pet lovebird, and worse grammar.
Of course, my lovebird has the great advantage of having been taught by me, whereas you, pammala, apparently acquired your language skills from some pre-verbal and pre-literate society of ferals.
Obviously you misread Kristen’s comment. At no point did she “support” the KKK. What she did was grudgingly admit that if it were peaceful, even members of such an organization as the KKK, would have to be allowed to protest. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, anyone can say whatever they like and hold their own opinions. This does not mean they can speak without consequences, just that they can speak. All people should have the freedom to hold their beliefs and express them without government intervention, not matter how distasteful. I’ll also mention that “hue and cry” is a common law term. I suggest you research instead of insulting pammala.
#47 Thank you for further demonstrating your ignorance, pammala. Kristen, of course, used the phrase properly.
Get back to us after you learn how to punctuate and use proper grammar.
but you’re still in support of the kkk kristen, whatta brain you have there. I feel sorry for your bird…byw, you can use rt for the pan
Pammala – Living proof that even the slowest among us can operate Windows Explorer.
Dear Pammala,
http://www.lvarv.org/
the mindset of you poor ignorant liberals is why this country is in the shape its in, I wouldnt call people stupid, glass houses ya know.
bamys done, he can go home now
Robert you correctly assess my level of “support” for the KKK. It’s the most extremely offensive group I could come up with to illustrate my point.
Free speech can be ugly, and they’re the poster child for that ugliness. Well, them and the Phelps people. And I’d grit my teeth and walk right by them to get my chimichanga if I had to.
pammala, Obama’s leaving office wouldn’t make you sound any brighter. Get a plan B.
Be honest Pammala, are you high? You’ve accused Kristen of supporting the KKK, yet now you use “bamy” to refer to the president? You say “poor ignorant liberals” and then make the claim that you don’t call people “stupid”.
@54 – Living proof that people still use Windows Explorer. Who uses Explorer any more? Time to break free of the chains NRV.
#53 So you think we should ban the KKK from demonstrating, pammala? Sorry, the Supreme Court ruled that legal a long, long, long time ago. Don’t you support the U.S. Constitution?
At least it’s amusing watching you sputter and mumble after completely embarrassing yourself.
Dear Lord! That’s about all that one can say about some people.
really windows explorer…lol what a dinosaur
no I dont get high, but you need to put down the crack pipe and quit hanging out on the corner for money
For the record, I do not use Explorer. I’m happy that someone installed something newer for pammala. Perhaps she can learn to utilize google next time she comes across a term she doesn’t understand.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
http://tinyurl.com/6fczcm2
**
New Hank Williams Jr.’s defiant song logs 150,000 downloads in 24 hours
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:55 AM EST, Wed October 12, 2011
Tonight, 10 ET on “The Joy Behar Show,” Hank Williams Jr. discusses the controversy over his remarks comparing President Obama to Hitler and talks to Joy about his split from ESPN.
(CNN) — A good number of Hank Williams, Jr.’s rowdy friends are backing the outspoken country star a week after ESPN dropped his long-running musical introduction to Monday Night Football.
Williams’ song “All My Rowdy Friends” had served as the theme song for MNF for 20 years, but was dropped after comments he made last week on the Fox News morning show “Fox and Friends.” On the program, he said a recent golf outing involving President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, was “like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu. OK. Not hardly.”
In a defiant response to his song being pulled, Williams released a new single, “Keep the Change,” for free download on his website. So far, some 150,000 people have taken him up on the offer, a publicist said Monday.
SNIP
**