Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Sports News

Williams apologizes for Hitler comments

|
|
 
  
Hank Williams Jr. performs before the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on January 18, 2009. (UPI Photo/Stephen M. Gross) 
License photo
Published: Oct. 4, 2011 at 6:38 PM

NEW YORK, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Country music singer Hank Williams Jr. issued an apology Tuesday after comparing U.S. President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler in a television interview.

The performer's remarks on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" show Monday resulted in a controversy and prompted sports broadcaster ESPN to cut his trademark "Are You Ready For Some Football?" opening song from its "Monday Night Football" broadcast.

During the Fox News segment, Williams made the comparison when talking about Obama playing golf on the same team with Republican House Speaker John Boehner during a June outing.

"I have always been very passionate about politics and sports and this time it got the best or worst of me," Williams said in a statement.

"The thought of the leaders of both parties jukin' and high fiven' on a golf course, while so many families are struggling to get by, simply made me boil over and make a dumb statement, and I am very sorry if it offended anyone.

"I would like to thank all my supporters. This was not written by some publicist," Williams wrote.

The Jewish Anti-Defamation League earlier Tuesday condemned Williams' comments on Fox, CNN reported.

Topics: Hank Williams, Barack Obama, Adolf Hitler, John Boehner
© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Linsanity The Daytona 500 Cheerleaders of 2012
Additional Sports News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
Five arrested in prostitution sting. Article lists their names, ages and distance from a church
Photoshop this power tower technician
Driving drunk and unlicensed, with a kid not even buckled let alone in a safety seat, en route to...
Man killed in Spencer fire. The lava lamps must have ignited the blacklight posters
Passenger jet crashes into apartment building in Nigerian capitol. Over 150 princes, bank officials,...
I'll see your zombie apocalypse, and raise you "swarms of deadly spiders" invading a town in India...