Hank Williams Jr Says He Was Misunderstood

Hank Williams Jr Says He Was Misunderstood

Singer Hank Williams Jr. was dropped by ESPN from opening tonight's Monday Night Football due to his controversial political comments about President Obama.

Williams was removed after saying on Fox & Friends that the golf summit last summer between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner " would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu."

When asked on Fox to explain his analogy, Williams said Obama and Vice President Biden are "the enemy."  He said the golf summit was "one of the biggest political mistakes ever."

ESPN moved quickly to diffuse the resulting controversy by releasing the following statement:  "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."

After being removed from opening Monday Night Football the singer said he was "misunderstood."

In a statement Monday night, Williams says that with his comment about Obama and Boehner playing golf this summer he was "simply trying to show how stupid it seemed to me -- how ludicrous that pairing was." Williams says Boehner and Obama "are polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will."

Although ESPN has a policy about its on-air personalities getting involved in politics, Williams has said he's interested in running as a Republican in 2012 for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee.