Hank Williams Jr., Obama & ESPN, and also the First Amendment

This is a thread coming after the kerfluffle. For those of you uninformed, Hank Williams Jr. Is famous for the "All My Rowdy Friends" intro song to Monday Night Football, which I will not link to because it is awful. Either way, Hank went on Fox & Friends and said this:

ESPN opted to pull "All My Rowdy Friends" from MNF, Hank apologized, then ESPN disassociated themselves from Hank entirely, and Hank reacted... well...

"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."

He also tweaked his Post-Obama-election diss track.

A few notes i'd like to make first,

1.) It's entirely Hank's fault this entire thing went down. There are about 10,000,000 different analogies he could've used to compare Obama and Biden golfing to to diametrically opposed parties. Dogs and Cats. Sith and Jedi. Bacon and PETA. Harry and Draco. A man and an airbag. But he went with Benjamin Netanyahu and Hitler. He could've said Obama was incompetent, a crony, a horrible politician, weak-willed, a coward, an idiot, the worst thing to happen to America since the Civil War, or probably could've even gone birther on us, and he'd have been fine. As a general rule, if you're a public figure, don't compare politicians in a republic to history's greatest dictatorial genocidal leader. Not unless you've got really good proof.

2.) the "Toes of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech" were not stepped on. Matter of fact, this was pure, wonderful capitalism. A company made a immediate decision based on the impact Hank's words might have on their sponsors and bottom line. Now, if, say, a Predator Drone had blown up Hank and the government released and edict prohibiting such speech and threatening to do the same to anyone who dared agree, that's a violation of ol' #1.

Which reminds me, when exactly did the First Amendment come to mean "I can say whatever I want and should be able to without any repurcussions"? I actually had a ex-co-worker Female Doggo to me about his "right to free speech being impeded" for calling another co-worker a "dumb dyke {sexist slur}". Do we, as a nation, need to go back to Civics class? When Imus called the Rutgers basketball team a bunch of "Nappy Headed Ho's" and got canned for it, at no point was his right to free speech impeded. Or have I been reading the entire constitution wrong?

If Fox and Friends think you were over the line when describing Obama...

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

If Fox and Friends think you were over the line when describing Obama...

Yeah the uncomfortable look on that whole side of the split screen was fantastic.

And yes, much like the terms capitalism, socialism, and free market, the term "free speech" has been pretty much misused almost every time I've heard it in the past ten years.

Williams has the right to say what he wants. He also has to deal with the consequences of those words.

It was a poor analogy. The dogs/cats would have been a good one.

He'll probably now sell a half million copies of his new song and make a bunch of money off of other spin-offs as a result of this.

MattDaddy wrote:

Williams has the right to say what he wants. He also has to deal with the consequences of those words.

It was a poor analogy. The dogs/cats would have been a good one.

He'll probably now sell a half million copies of his new song and make a bunch of money off of other spin-offs as a result of this.

For the first time in a long while, I agree with Matt on all fronts on this.

And it's sad that his next crappy-ass song is going to sell as well as it probably will. I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

Rubb Ed wrote:

I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

You make me sad, Sir Knight.

My old great-grandma used to say, 'All freedom of speech means is that any damn fool can say anything damn fool thing he wants. And then he has to live with it, damn fool that he is.'

Great-grandma didn't think much of damn fools.

Reaper81 wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:

I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

You make me sad, Sir Knight.

My old great-grandma used to say, 'All freedom of speech means is that any damn fool can say anything damn fool thing he wants. And then he has to live with it, damn fool that he is.'

Great-grandma didn't think much of damn fools.

Did she pity them?

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:

I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

You make me sad, Sir Knight.

My old great-grandma used to say, 'All freedom of speech means is that any damn fool can say anything damn fool thing he wants. And then he has to live with it, damn fool that he is.'

Great-grandma didn't think much of damn fools.

Did she pity them?

It was hard to tell. She was usually pounding back boilermakers.

She lived to be 92. Thinking back on it, great-grandma was pretty bad-ass.

Reaper81 wrote:
KrazyTacoFO wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:

I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

You make me sad, Sir Knight.

My old great-grandma used to say, 'All freedom of speech means is that any damn fool can say anything damn fool thing he wants. And then he has to live with it, damn fool that he is.'

Great-grandma didn't think much of damn fools.

Did she pity them?

It was hard to tell. She was usually pounding back boilermakers.

She lived to be 92. Thinking back on it, great-grandma was pretty bad-ass.

That's what I thought. She definitely was Mr. T.

IMAGE(http://ecdn0.hark.com/images/000/002/076/2076/original.jpg)

Rubb Ed wrote:
MattDaddy wrote:

Williams has the right to say what he wants. He also has to deal with the consequences of those words.

It was a poor analogy. The dogs/cats would have been a good one.

He'll probably now sell a half million copies of his new song and make a bunch of money off of other spin-offs as a result of this.

For the first time in a long while, I agree with Matt on all fronts on this.

And it's sad that his next crappy-ass song is going to sell as well as it probably will. I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

To be fair, it would be hard to match the pure visceral reaction you get when Ke$ha states that she brushes her teeth "with a bottle of Jack." Man, even Hank Williams Jr. ain't that country.

kazooka wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:
MattDaddy wrote:

Williams has the right to say what he wants. He also has to deal with the consequences of those words.

It was a poor analogy. The dogs/cats would have been a good one.

He'll probably now sell a half million copies of his new song and make a bunch of money off of other spin-offs as a result of this.

For the first time in a long while, I agree with Matt on all fronts on this.

And it's sad that his next crappy-ass song is going to sell as well as it probably will. I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

To be fair, it would be hard to match the pure visceral reaction you get when Ke$ha states that she brushes her teeth "with a bottle of Jack." Man, even Hank Williams Jr. ain't that country.

He did sound drunk though on that Fox interview.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
kazooka wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:
MattDaddy wrote:

Williams has the right to say what he wants. He also has to deal with the consequences of those words.

It was a poor analogy. The dogs/cats would have been a good one.

He'll probably now sell a half million copies of his new song and make a bunch of money off of other spin-offs as a result of this.

For the first time in a long while, I agree with Matt on all fronts on this.

And it's sad that his next crappy-ass song is going to sell as well as it probably will. I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

To be fair, it would be hard to match the pure visceral reaction you get when Ke$ha states that she brushes her teeth "with a bottle of Jack." Man, even Hank Williams Jr. ain't that country.

He did sound drunk though on that Fox interview.

When you consider his family tree? He's definitely THAT country.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
Rubb Ed wrote:

I've heard a bit of what the lyrics are going to be like, and... wow. Ke$ha's Shakespeare, comparatively.

You make me sad, Sir Knight.

My old great-grandma used to say, 'All freedom of speech means is that any damn fool can say anything damn fool thing he wants. And then he has to live with it, damn fool that he is.'

Great-grandma didn't think much of damn fools.

Did she pity them?

There's some great material for a flow-chart right here.

Prederick wrote:

Which reminds me, when exactly did the First Amendment come to mean "I can say whatever I want and should be able to without any repurcussions"? I actually had a ex-co-worker Female Doggo to me about his "right to free speech being impeded" for calling another co-worker a "dumb dyke c*nt". Do we, as a nation, need to go back to Civics class? When Imus called the Rutgers basketball team a bunch of "Nappy Headed Ho's" and got canned for it, at no point was his right to free speech impeded. Or have I been reading the entire constitution wrong?

Reading?

I thought you you were supposed to America by Heart the Constitution to find out what the First Amendment means.

Like you asked, at some point, the "Constitution" wound up meaning to some people anything that sounds patriotic to those people. Civics classes are for elites.

Podunk wrote:

F*ck Hank Williams Junior. F*ck him right in his stupid face.

It is legal in several states!

F*ck Hank Williams Junior. F*ck him right in his stupid face.

edit: to clarify, f*ck him not specifically for this incident, but rather for the crime against humanity that is his music career. F*ck Hank Jr., because his entire existence is an affront to all that is good and holy in this world.

To re-use the same joke I've been making for a week and a half, I desperately want to find a way to get Faith Hill to talk about Hitler, because I hate that @#$!!! Sunday Night Football song.

Hank Williams Junior is a moron. I hated his song, I'm glad it's gone, and I'm officially putting my support behind a "Punch people in the face when they don't realize the First Amendment only applies to the government, not private organizations" amendment to the constitution.

I'm just amazed that people were shocked he said that. It's Hank, man. Hank!

What were they doing asking him questions anyway? While I feel almost all celebrity opinion pieces on politics is crap I simply cannot imagine the scenario in which a news exec says "You know whose take we need on this issue? Hank, Jr. Get him on the line!" Have we run out of actual, qualified individuals to ask about this sort of thing?

Does Williams' response strike anyone else as being a bit late? It's like a line from a bad office movie:

Boss: You're fired!

Employee: You can't fire me, because I quit!

ESPN already pulled your song, bud, but I'm glad you've decided to not let them use it, too.

Kehama wrote:

I'm just amazed that people were shocked he said that. It's Hank, man. Hank!

What were they doing asking him questions anyway? While I feel almost all celebrity opinion pieces on politics is crap I simply cannot imagine the scenario in which a news exec says "You know whose take we need on this issue? Hank, Jr. Get him on the line!" Have we run out of actual, qualified individuals to ask about this sort of thing?

In the same Fox and Friends episode where Hank Williams Jr compared Obama to Hitler, Gretchen Carlson dismissed Roseanne Barr's recent criticism of the Right with "Why do we even listen to these celebrities when it comes to politics? Why are they even asked what they think, who cares?". The Daily Show joked about this.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Does Williams' response strike anyone else as being a bit late? It's like a line from a bad office movie:

Boss: You're fired!

Employee: You can't fire me, because I quit!

ESPN already pulled your song, bud, but I'm glad you've decided to not let them use it, too.

Yeah, I don't get it either. I guess I shouldn't expect reason from this guy though.

Gotta love the lyrics of the (re-)released song from Hank:

I'm gonna keep my big V8
Keep my friends the same
Keep the government outta my business
And y'all can keep the change

While I applaud him for encouraging Americans to get their daily servings of vegetables, there's a certain irony there with the people bringing up the First Amendment.

Also, is this the beginning of the end of the love affair of the Joe the Plumber/Tea Party/etc. and FOX News?

So Fox & Friends
Wanna put me down
Ask for my opinion
Then twist it all around
Supposed to be talkin' about my father's new CD
Well, two can play that gotcha game, just wait and see
Don't tread on me!

When I was a kid, my parents got tickets for us to see a Hank Williams Jr. show in Kansas City some time in the early 90s, right as his post-MNF career was starting to take off. The opening acts were friendly country/western fluff but, once Hank came out, the tone changed pretty dramatically. Through a drunken stupor that could have only been fueled with an entire day's worth of drinking, Hank cut loose with a stream of profanity, blasting everybody from Derrick Thomas to Garth Brooks to the fans in the seats. It was at that point that my parents packed things up and escorted me out of the arena, walking along with over half of the people who had came to see the show.

I have virtually no experience or exposure to the guy outside of that moment and the countless Monday Night Football intros I've watched over the years...but I feel like that "concert" was a clear enough sign that maybe this guy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

Also, color me amused that Fox and Friends would be uncomfortable with this, considering that they reside on the same network that allowed Glenn Beck to spend the majority of a year using every blackboard and note card and post-it he could find to insinuate that Obama was at the root of a global Muslim conspiracy that would swallow the world in darkness. If the extremist viewpoints make you nervous, then maybe you shouldn't fuel them with content from your network.

He got booted (I mean, literally, bouncers carried his drunk ass off the stage kind of booted) and told to never come back in Nebraska awhile ago. I was amused.

I like how that's a "gotcha game" to this guy.

But yeah, I agree. Pretty much any excuse for someone in his position to wave the "I'M SO POLITICALLY INCORRECT AND THE MAN JUST CAN'T HANDLE ME" flag is gonna get him a nice blind surge of popularity and sales.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

What's even funnier is that, according to the Daily Show, that same blonde woman was saying only 90 minutes before about Rosie O'Donnell, "Who cares what these celebrities think about politics?" And then they get those yokel to come on and talk about politics....

Bingo. I really wish all news networks would quit asking "celebrities" what they think.

This is pretty much the natural outgrowth of this whole "this may not be the most political correct thing to say but..." business. Every time someone prefaces what they have to say with those words, you can rest assured what follows is going to be something deeply offensive that the speaker feels they are entitled to say without adverse reaction. Every time I hear those words, I generally interrupt with the words "then don't say it".

What's even funnier is that, according to the Daily Show, that same blonde woman was saying only 90 minutes before about Rosie O'Donnell, "Who cares what these celebrities think about politics?" And then they get this yokel to come on and talk about politics....

Podunk wrote:

F*ck Hank Williams Junior. F*ck him right in his stupid face.

edit: to clarify, f*ck him not specifically for this incident, but rather for the crime against humanity that is his music career. F*ck Hank Jr., because his entire existence is an affront to all that is good and holy in this world.

Man, above all he's an affront to his father. HWJ wants to make extreme analogies about polar opposites? There you have one!

Podunk wrote:

F*ck Hank Williams Junior. F*ck him right in his stupid face.

edit: to clarify, f*ck him not specifically for this incident, but rather for the crime against humanity that is his music career. F*ck Hank Jr., because his entire existence is an affront to all that is good and holy in this world.

I haven't +1'd Podunk in a while, so allow me to say:

+1.

Podunk wrote:

F*ck Hank Williams Junior. F*ck him right in his stupid face.

edit: to clarify, f*ck him not specifically for this incident, but rather for the crime against humanity that is his music career. F*ck Hank Jr., because his entire existence is an affront to all that is good and holy in this world.

Is this irony?

Which is worse, comparing someone you don't like to Hitler, or using profanity to wish sexual assault on someone you don't like? I'd imagine this was said a bit "tongue in cheek", but it still seems a bit odd.

I'm no HWJ fan, and what he said was moronic.