ESPN: The Worldwide Leader in Policing Free Speech

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Hank Williams, Jr. wasn’t asking us if we were ready for some football on Monday night, that’s because ESPN pulled the pregame song following comments he made earlier in the day.

Appearing on Monday’s “Fox & Friends” program on the Fox News Channel, Williams likened President Barack Obama playing golf with House Speaker John Boehner “like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin)Netanyahu.”

Williams also said Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were “the enemy.”

As you might guess, those remarks didn’t sit well with ESPN.

The Worldwide Leader, being the staunch supporters of First Amendment rights that they are, issued a statement explaining why they decided to pull what has become a Monday Night Football mainstay.

“While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football.”

“We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”

I’m wondering if ESPN would have reacted in a similar manner had Williams said something about former president George Bush.

ESPN has the right to pull anything it wants from its telecasts, but doing so because they disagreed with Williams’ comments is the coward’s way out.

The Worldwide Leader might want us to believe they pulled Williams’ intro because it reflected poorly on their network, but that was an excuse to cover their asses.

Personally, I don’t consider Obama and Biden to be the enemy. But Williams had every right under the First Amendment to say what he did, and ESPN simply can’t handle it.

Williams’ comments didn’t reflect as badly on ESPN as did the Worldwide Leader’s reaction to his remarks.

Certainly, there are limitations to free speech. You can’t yell “fire!” in a crowded theater, but Williams’ comments didn’t come close to that.

Williams’ made the mistake of forgetting that the people who run ESPN are a bunch of corporate banana heads that will file lawsuits over freedom of information at the drop of a hat, but won’t defend freedom of speech if it offends their sensibilities.

That, in simple terms, is called hypocrisy.

If I were Hank Williams, Jr., I’d tell ESPN that I no longer wanted to be seen on their Monday Night Football telecasts because the Worldwide Leader reflected badly on me.

In fact, I’d release a statement that read:

I am extremely disappointed that ESPN doesn’t have the courage to defend my First Amendment rights. As such, I have decided that the Worldwide Leader can kiss both cheeks of my ass.

Love,

Hank