Today, ESPN officially removed Hank Williams Jr. from their Monday Night Football broadcasts.  Hank Jr. won multiple Emmys for his role in the Monday Night Football open, becoming a signature voice for fans of the broadcast since he began his role in 1991.  But of course, any time you compare the current president to Hitler, bad things are bound to happen to your employment.  Apparently, that little one-game suspension wasn’t enough.  First, here’s Hank Jr.’s initial apology after he was sat for a game… 

“I have always been very passionate about Politics and Sports and this time it got the Best or Worst of me. The thought of the Leaders of both Parties Jukin and High Fiven on a Golf course, while so many Families are Struggling to get by simply made me Boil over and make a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone. I would like to Thank all my supporters. This was Not written by some Publicist.”

-Hank Williams Jr. 

Just this morning, the other shoe dropped and ESPN officially cut ties with the man known as Bocephus with this statement today:

“We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years.  The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.”

-ESPN 

And just to add further to the confusion, according to this tweet from SportsGrid, Hank Williams Jr. says he made the decision to part ways, not ESPN…

Updated: Here’s the full Hank Williams Jr. statement to ESPN as read on First Take this morning…

“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision.  By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You [ESPN] stepped on the Toes of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE.  It’s been a great run.”

Whatever the case may be (and we all know ESPN doesn’t exactly have the best history recently with short, terse statements), it looks like Hank Jr. now joins the list of people like Jimmy the Greek, Al Campanis, Ruch Limbaugh and Don Imus as prominent figures who have said stupid things and lost jobs.  Didn’t Marge Schott teach us anything about invoking the name of Hitler?  One thing’s for sure, Faith Hill needs to watch what she says until the heat dies down.  As for Bocephus, well, I guess he has plenty of time to have his rowdy friends over tonight…