Six years after country music star Hank Williams Jr. was dropped from Monday Night Football after making an analogy comparing President Obama to Hitler, ESPN brought him back. But the first appearance of Williams’ new Monday Night Football theme Monday did not meet with positive reviews, to put it mildly. Here it is:
The new MNF theme – yikes pic.twitter.com/w50PuUVdFv
— The Spun (@TheSpun) September 11, 2017
By contrast, here’s Williams’ previous MNF theme from Week Two of the 2011 season:
Many on Twitter were particularly unimpressed with the new version featuring cameos from other acts like Florida-Georgia Line and Jason Derulo, and with the amount of autotune:
No one on planet earth deserved to watch Jason Derulo, Florida Georgia Line, and Hank Williams Jr perform together. #MNF
— Phil Caballeros (@PhilCaballeros) September 11, 2017
I did a Twitter search right after & it appears the hatred of Florida Georgia Line is universal. Hope they drop them. It didn't work.
— Jordan Gottke (@jordangottke) September 11, 2017
Who the fuck were all those other clowns messing the song up
— Sloppy Monkey (@SloppyMonkey) September 11, 2017
It’s like going to a concert of a legend and they play “new material”- nobody wants to hear that. Play the hits.
— Craig Mergenthal (@CraigMergenthal) September 11, 2017
I never thought I'd say that Hank Williams MNF song would sound worse than Carrie Underwood on SNF but this is where we are. #SMH
— Gershon Rabinowitz (@GershOnline) September 11, 2017
To say nothing about people mad Williams was back in the first place:
Nothing like saying "let's all be in this together" then trotting out Hank Williams JR and this trash remix
— BlackSportsOnline (@BSO) September 11, 2017
The NFL and its plantation behavior. Keapernick can't get a job because of silent non violent protests but racist Hank Williams is ok? pic.twitter.com/dqjFWsCCzR
— Mr.JustSaying✊? (@shakkazulu) September 10, 2017
NFL Execs: "Whew, now that racism is ok again, let's get Hank Williams Jr. back."
— Mike Foster? (@scout_6) September 11, 2017
So, yeah, this definitely provoked some reaction. And probably not quite what ESPN was hoping for.
[The Spun on Twitter]