By now you’ve read about how ESPN neglected to run its usual musical opening during Monday Night Football this week in reaction to Hank Williams Jr.’s lunatic comments comparing President Obama to Hitler. Williams has since apologized, but it may not be enough to save him from permanent exile from the most powerful force in professional sports.
Williams isn’t the first person associated with ESPN who has gotten into hot water with the network when talking or writing out of turn about culture or politics. Among the others who have aroused the ire of the suits in Bristol are:
- Rush Limbaugh: In October 2003, the radio talk show voice set off a national furor for saying that the national press had overrated then-Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb because they wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. While the comments passed with little notice on the day Limbaugh delivered them, the roof started to cave in on Monday morning when the rest of the world came back to work and caught wind of what he had said. Limbaugh was gone just a few days later. There’s no doubt that the incident resulted in Limbaugh’s rejection by the NFL when he attempted to join a group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams.
- Gregg Easterbrook: Just weeks after Limbaugh was shown the door at the network, the author of ESPN.com’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ) found himself out of a job after taking a very public shot at Michael Eisner, the CEO of ESPN’s parent company, Disney. After a period of exile at NFL.com, Easterbrook was eventually welcomed back to the fold.
- Dana Jacobson: In January 2008, the network suspended the anchor for a week when news surfaced that she had cracked an off-color joke (and one that I’m sure has been cracked more than once in Ann Arbor and every other Big 10 stadium) about Notre Dame during a roast of fellow ESPN personalities Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg.
- Paul Azinger: In August 2011, the former PGA Tour pro was publicly rebuked for violating the network’s social media policy after he tweeted that President Obama plays more golf than he does while Azinger still managed to create more jobs. As Dana Loesch has pointed out, the upbraiding came after several other ESPN personalities had taken shots at the right using their own Twitter feeds.
Even though Williams has apologized, the story probably isn’t over yet. As others have pointed out, the NFL just announced that Madonna will be providing the halftime entertainment at the next Super Bowl, and her record on comparing national politicians with Hitler is equally as impressive. Stay tuned.
Eric McErlain blogs at Off Wing Opinion, a Forbes “Best of the Web” winner. In 2006 he wrote a “bloggers bill of rights” to help integrate bloggers into the Washington Capitals’ press box. Eric has also written for Deadspin, NBC Sports and the Sporting News, and covers sports television for The TV News. Follow Eric on Twitter.