Hank Williams Jr. ousted by Little Richard.....Racism?????????

[Mongoose]

For the second time since 2011, ESPN is reportedly removing Hank Williams Jr. from its “Monday Night Football” intro.
This time, the network claims it’s not about Williams’ controversial points of view, according to Sports Business Journal.
Instead of Williams’ iconic “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night” that became the anthem for weekday football in 1989, ESPN will air a rendition of Little Richard’s “Rip It Up,” mashing the late artist’s vocals with instrumentation from Virginia-based band Butcher Brown, per the report.
ESPN reportedly cites COVID-19 crowd impact

The official stance from ESPN is that the “rowdy” Williams intro doesn’t jibe with a season of NFL games being played in stadiums with limited or no fan capacity because of COVID-19, according to SBJ.
But it shouldn’t be ignored in 2020 that ESPN is removing Williams in favor of one of the Black founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll backed by a majority Black band. Little Richard, who died in May, was a titan of the genre and one of the most influential artists in American popular music.

Hank Williams Jr. if reportedly off 'Monday Night Football' again. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Rock the South Festival)

Hank Williams Jr. removed in 2011 after comparing Obama to Hitler

The last time ESPN axed Williams was in 2011 after he compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. He returned to the network’s airwaves in 2017 amid the massive cultural shift that was the election of President Donald Trump.
Now that the United States is in the midst of a racial reckoning and social unrest not seen in decades sparked by the homicide of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Williams is gone again.
It’s probably not good for business in this climate to promote a country singer with Confederate fantasies “If the South Woulda Won” and “If Heaven Ain’t a Lot Like Dixie” in his library.
ESPN’s ‘stick-to-sports’ initiative

ESPN has long catered to the stick-to-sports crowd and has doubled down on those efforts lately under president Jimmy Pitaro, who has continued to stifle non-sports commentary from the network’s stable of personalities.
Network brass surely doesn’t want to be seen as catering to a certain demographic by pulling Williams for what could be construed as political reasons. That doesn’t fit with the brand or a segment of its audience.
The COVID-19 pandemic makes for a convenient fallback that allows ESPN to protect its business interests while avoiding the dreaded “political” label at the same time.

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[USMC 2571]

Anyone who is being removed from anything that has to do with professional sports, should be happy.

[oldtop]

I hope Hank sues them for "breach of contract" (if there is one) and takes them for a fortune.... frankly, it is getting so that about the only thing a tv is good for these days is watching very OLD movies, and for "pulling an Elvis" when one needs to let off a LOT of "frustration and STEAM"......

[USMC 2571]

They've mixed politics and sports and everything else so much, that I'm surprised anyone bothers with pro sports anymore.

[USMC 2571]

I think college football is unaffected by all this racism frenzy.

[Mongoose]

This Country has turned into a Cesspool. I'm telling ya, this shet has gone far enough. It's a sad day in Hell when White Americans start kissing the nasty azz of radical blacks and muslims.....not to mention the White low life scums trying to destroy American values and traditions.

[USMC 2571]

I hope America does the right thing for itself in November. Otherwise....

[Mongoose]

Dave, we're at the crossroad of no return. It's now or never. We call ourselves Patriots, Fathers, Grand Fathers, and Warriors. We love our families, our Country, and our Lord above all. We weren't taught by books and would be experts. We had on hands training from birth until this day. We know what can happen and how things can change from experience. In a nutshell .......we all know that old saying, been there, done that. And most of us fit that quote. However, and more importantly is the old saying, You can talk the talk, but, can you walk the walk???? This my friend is where we are.........just saying...