“No one seemed to mind when famous people made terrible comments about George W. Bush.”
I agree, and I like HW Jr, but publicly calling 0bama — or any other occupant of the WH “Hitler” is going to draw repercussions. Williams should’ve thought a couple steps ahead before making that comment. ESPN exercised a business decision in dropping him.
Remember, the Dixie Chicks’ careers were (rightly) never the same after they caused that flap with their comments about Bush while in London.
ESPN has the right to be who they are and hire/fire at will. That said, your comparison of the Dixie Chix is totally wrong. The 'Chix' were blasted all over the news, on magazine covers, and tried to be promoted as hard as they ever have been.
What happened is that the 'Chix' audience predominately leaned "conservative" which made TV exects uncomfortable, not the what the 'Chix' said. Totalitarians hailed the 'Chix' but their audience turned their back on them which meant potential lower ratings, lower sales and nervous advertisers. In ESPN's case, there ideology quickly canned Williams, Jr, not the audience. Heck, most of the football audience probably agreed with the analogy Jr. made.
Is Hank Jr. going to get the "cover" treatment?
Are Time Magazine or another mainstream rag going to offer Hank Jr. a sympathetic spin?