Backlash as singer says Obama is like Hitler

The American sports network ESPN has pulled a Hank Williams Jr song from its Monday night football broadcast after the singer likened President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.

In an interview on Fox News, Williams said of Mr Obama's golf game with the Republican 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 Mr Obama and the Vice-President, Joe Biden. The interviewer, 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 – son of the country music legend Hank Williams – replied: "Well, that is true. But I'm telling you like it is."

Williams later released a statement saying his comments were 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," he said. AP