This is very interesting. ESPN is bringing back Hank Williams, Jr. for Monday Night Football in September to ask America, "Are you ready for some football?"
Williams, Jr. was fired by ESPN in October 2011 after he likened then President Obama to Adolf Hitler. The country legend was disgusted by the sight of then House Speaker John Boehner golfing with Obama and likened it to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu golfing with the Fuehrer. I wrote about it on two occasions. I did not care for his remarks but thought there was a double standard at work when CNN did not sanction Janeane Garofalo for likening the Bush Administration to the Third Reich when she guest hosted Crossfire.
The reason I think ESPN's decision to bring back Williams, Jr. is very interesting is because it is an effort to get viewers back. Let's face it. ESPN has been hemorrhaging viewers in no small part due to its overtly left-wing slant particularly when it went all out to defend Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the Star Spangled Banner. It annoyed a lot of viewers who a) found ESPN's politics abhorrent and b) who want sports to be an escape from real life - especially politics. Then came the massive layoffs which were announced in late April and continue up to the present including beloved NFL analyst John Clayton last week.
Needless to say I think bringing back Hank Williams, Jr. is an attempt to lure back viewers with more conservative and traditional views as well as those who are apolitical. Will it work? I think there will be a lot of viewers when Williams, Jr. returns on September 11th - already a day full of emotion. But whether those viewers will stick will depend on how committed ESPN is from eschewing left-wing politics or politics of any kind over the long term.
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