What Happened to Freedom of Speech?

Recently, Hank Williams' Jr song "Are You Ready For Some Football?" - a song that has been the opener for the sport for over 20 years - has been pulled as a result of his comments on Fox & Friends.  He compared this summer's golf outing between Obama and John Boehner as "one of the biggest political mistakes ever" and compared it to Hitler playing golf with Israeli leader Bejamin Netanyahu.

After those comments went around Twitter like a whirling dervish, ESPN issued the following statement: "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."

The next day, Williams apologized for his comments (of course) perhaps in hopes of not ruining his reputation and royalty checks. He said, "my analogy was extreme, but it was to make a point. The thought of leaders of both parties on a gold course while so many families are struggling to get by simply made me boil over and make a dumb statement and I'm very sorry if it offended anyone. I would like to thank all my supporters. This was not written by some publicist."  

What do you think of this?  Personally, I am not surprised by the political nature of ESPN, but I'm very upset by the principle.  Williams has every right to express his opinion without having to feel crucified for it.  Regardless of whether or not you're pro-Obama, I'm pretty sure you are pro-free speech. This is motherfucking America and this shit is messed up.

And those are my thoughts on that.