Watch Hank Williams Jr. and Friends’ New ‘Monday Night Football’ Opening Video
The new MNF theme - yikes pic.twitter.com/w50PuUVdFv
— The Spun (@TheSpun) September 11, 2017
Hank Williams Jr. is making his return to ESPN for Monday Night Football for the 2017-2018 season with a little help from his "rowdy friends" Jason Derulo and Florida Georgia Line. The three acts teamed up for a new version of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night," which debuted (following a six-year hiatus) prior to Monday's (Sept. 11) first MNF game of the new NFL season.
Readers can press play above to watch the new Monday Night Football opening video. Williams Jr. calls his MNF theme song "a staple that fans grew to expect and wanted to see and hear."
"I am thrilled to be back and bring the fans such a new and dynamic rendition of this anthem," Williams Jr. adds. "Are You Ready for Some Football? 'Cause I sure am!”
Williams Jr.'s Monday Night Football theme song earned the artist four Grammy Awards between 1991 and 1994, and created a cult following.
"We all grew up watching Monday Night Football, and it's surreal to join Jason Derulo and Hank Williams Jr. on this new version that gives a nod back but also a step forward!" says FGL's Brian Kelly. Adds Tyler Hubbard, "This is a huge honor to be a part of such a legendary song and night!"
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“It’s truly momentous to be featured in the Monday Night Football anthem for the upcoming season," Derulo adds. "I feel the opening song sets the tone and energizes the fans before kickoff, and this year I’m putting my swag on it.”
In 2011, following more than two decades of working together, ESPN and Williams Jr. ended their relationship after Williams Jr., during a TV appearance, said that then-President Obama's golf game with then-Republican House Speaker John Boehner was "one of the biggest political mistakes ever … like Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu!” ESPN Senior Vice President of Events and Studio Production Stephanie Druley is prepared for some backlash as a result of Williams Jr.'s return to Monday Night Football, but "not concerned" about it.
"It was the right time," Druley adds. "We discussed it internally, and it was just the right time to bring him back."
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