The Hank Williams Jr. song that has opened "Monday Night Football" for 20 years was not part of the opening of this week's Indianapolis-Tampa Bay game after Williams made controversial comments about President Barack Obama. 
 
 Williams compared Obama to Adolf Hitler on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" show Monday morning. 
 
 ESPN, in a statement, said: "While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast." 
 
 Williams issued a statement through his publicist, saying: 
 
 "Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My 
 
 analogy was extreme -- but it was to make a point. I was simply 
 
 trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me -- how ludicrous that 
 
 pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They 
 
 don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the 
 
 office of the president." 
 
 Williams, whose song "All My Rowdy Friends" has been the "Monday Night Football" theme on both ABC and ESPN since 1991, said on "Fox and Friends" that he thought House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner playing golf with President Obama "would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu ... In the shape this country is in?" 
 
 Told by anchor Brian Kilmeade that he didn't understand the analogy, Williams said: "I'm glad you don't, brother, because a lot of people do. They're the enemy." 
 
 Asked who the enemy was, Williams said: "Obama. And Biden. Are you kidding? The Three Stooges." 
 
 Boehner played golf with Obama in June at the height of the national budget debate in Washington, D.C. 
 
 Williams, from Tennessee, has said he would run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in 2012. 
 
 Later in the Fox interview with Williams, anchor Gretchen Carlson told Williams he used the name of one of history's most hated men to describe the president. 
 
 "Well, that's true. But I'm telling you like it is," Williams said. 
 
 Williams has been critical of Obama in the past. He campaigned for Sen. John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin in 2008, even changing the words of one of his songs, "Family Tradition," to blast Obama and the Democrats for the financial crisis the country was facing prior to that year's election. 

 CORRECTS COLTS' OPPONENT - FILE - In this July 14, 2011, file photo, Hank Williams Jr. performs during the recording of a promo for ESPN's broadcasts of "Monday Night Football," in Winter Park, Fla. ESPN... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS COLTS' OPPONENT - FILE - In this July 14, 2011, file photo, Hank Williams Jr. performs during the recording of a promo for ESPN's broadcasts of "Monday Night Football," in Winter Park, Fla. ESPN... (Associated Press) 
 
 ESPN pulled Hank Williams Jr.'s classic intro song from its broadcast of Monday night's NFL game after the country singer famous for the line "Are you ready for some football?" used an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing President Barack Obama. 
 
 In an interview Monday morning on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Williams, unprompted, said of Obama's outing on the links with House Speaker John Boehner: "It'd be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu." 
 
 Asked to clarify, Williams said, "They're the enemy," adding that by "they" he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. 
 
 Anchor Gretchen Carlson later said to him, "You used the name of one of the most hated people in all of the world to describe, I think, the president." Williams replied, "Well, that is true. But I'm telling you like it is." 
 
 "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to `Monday Night Football,'" the network said in a statement. "We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast." 
 
 Williams released a statement through his publicist, saying: "Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme _ but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me _ how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the president." 
 
 ESPN did not say whether the intro, synonymous with "Monday Night Football" since 1989, would be used again after this week's Colts- Buccaneers game. 
 
 "Every time the media brings up the tea party it's painted as racist and extremists _ but there's never a backlash _ no outrage to those comparisons," Williams' statement continued. "Working-class people are hurting _ and it doesn't seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job _ it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change." 
 
 ESPN covered the story during "SportsCenter" and the pregame show but did not mention the song's absence at the start of the game telecast when fans would normally be hearing "Are you ready for some football?" Instead of a music video, viewers just saw clips of both teams and heard a voice-over about the matchup. 
 
 The song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night" is a remixed version of his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight." The version won Williams four Emmy Awards in the early 1990s as the opening theme to "Monday Night Football," then on ABC.
– You may have noticed something missing from Monday Night Football last night: namely, Hank Williams Jr. asking, "Are you ready for some football?" as he's been doing for more than 20 years. ESPN pulled the country star's iconic song from the broadcast after Williams compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler yesterday on Fox and Friends. Williams is not technically an ESPN employee, but the company was "extremely disappointed with his comments," it said in a statement. No word yet on whether the song will make a comeback next week, the AP notes. Williams was talking about Obama's golf summit with John Boehner when he made the analogy, saying it "would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu." In his own statement, Williams said, "My analogy was extreme—but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me—how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the president." Click to watch his bizarre Fox and Friends interview in full.