Nashville (Tennessee): A US country singer
who lost his highest profile television assignment after
making an analogy involving President Barack Obama and Adolf
Hitler is lashing out at the media in a new song.
In an interview last week on Fox News, singer Hank
Williams Jr compared President Barack Obama playing golf with
the leader of the Republican opposition in Congress to the
long-dead Nazi leader playing a time-warped round with
Israel's current prime minister.
Following the interview, sports network ESPN pulled the
theme song Williams has sung before Monday Night Football
broadcasts for 22 years.
In retaliation Williams, the son of legendary country
singer Hank Williams Sr, has cut a song called "I'll Keep My
...," that says the Fox News broadcasters twisted his words.
"So Fox 'n Friends wanna put me down/ Ask for my opinion/
Twist it all around." He finishes the verse: "Well two can
play that gotcha game you'll see."
Williams says he wrote the verse when he woke up Friday
morning and recorded it in a Nashville studio that same
afternoon. It could be on iTunes late today or early tomorrow.
Early in the song, he says the US is "going down the
drain" and says it's becoming "The United Socialist States of
America." He then encourages viewers not to watch "Fox &
Friends" or ESPN.
Williams' comments last Monday drew unlikely reactions
with many commentators and comedians coming to his defense,
claiming ESPN was infringing on his right to free speech. His
defenders included the left-leaning Whoopi Goldberg and Joy
Behar of "The View" and Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" and on
the other side of the political landscape Sarah Palin and Rush
Limbaugh.
The brouhaha prompted Williams also to start selling
"Hank Jr for President" T-shirts on his website.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 10, 2011, 23:12