Daily Herald editorial

Singer Hank Williams Jr. lacks a grasp on the free speech rights ensured by the First Amendment.

In the debacle surrounding getting canned as the singer of the intro song on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” the country star wrote that 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.”

The First Amendment ensures Williams has the right to say what he pleases without the government punishing him. It says nothing about how anyone else — including his employer — might react.

Even though Williams made an off-kilter comparison of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to Adolf Hitler and Benjamin Netanyahu, the U.S. government didn’t punish him like governments do in some countries without such protections. Williams apparently forgets that ESPN also has free speech rights. The cable sports channel has the right to broadcast Williams over the air or to not broadcast him. In other words, free speech protects Americans from censorship by the government, not censorship by their employers. You can be fired for saying something stupid.

The First Amendment doesn’t protect speech in private (i.e. non-government) interactions, and it’s too bad that a major artist such as Williams does not understand that. But, then, neither did he know that comparing any American politician to Hitler is ridiculous.