Jack Black Was ‘Blindsided’ By Trump Assassination Joke in Australia: ‘I Would Never Condone Hate Speech’
Jack Black responded to the backlash spurred by an off-color joke by his longtime Tenacious D musical partner Kyle Gass on Tuesday morning (July 16) by apologizing and announcing an indefinite hold on all future creative plans for the comedic rock duo.
“I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday,” Black wrote of the off-color joke Gass made during the duo’s show on Sunday at the ICC Sydney Theatre in Sydney, Australia. During the gig, Gass was presented with a birthday cake and said, “don’t miss Trump next time” when Black asked him to “make a wish.” The poor taste quip came less than 48 hours after a lone gunman nicked the former president’s ear in an assassination attempt that resulted in the death of an audience member at a rally in Butler, PA and serious injuries to two other attendees.
The immediate response from tour producer Frontier Touring was to postpone a planned Tuesday night (July 16) show at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in the wake of significant backlash from conservative politicians and talking heads, including an Australian senator demanding that the pair be deported immediately.
“I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form,” Black continued about the comment Gass said in a separate statement was improvised and inappropriate, noting that the incident has caused the Kung Fu Panda star to reconsider the group’s future endeavors. “After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold. I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.”
In addition to tonight’s scotched show in Newcastle, Tenacious D’s sold out Spicy Meatball tour shows on July 18 (Brisbane), July 20 (Melbourne), July 22 (Adelaide), July 24 (Wellington) and July 26 (Auckland) have also been called off. In June, the duo announced five North American gigs booked for October in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as part of what they were calling the Rock D Vote tour in advance of November’s presidential election; at press time it was not clear if those sold out dates have also been cancelled.
In a parallel statement, Gass also apologized for his off-color remark, writing, “The line I improvised onstage Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake. I don’t condone violence of any kind, in any form, against anyone. What happened was a tragedy, and I’m incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgement. I profoundly apologize to those I’ve let down and truly regret any pain I’ve caused.”
Trump appeared in Milwaukee for the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday night (July 15) with a white bandage on his right ear over the spot where the gunman’s bullet struck after announcing Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential pick in a bid to re-take the White House. Hours after the attack on Trump, President Joe Biden joined a chorus of political figures condemning political violence, saying, “There is no place in America for this kind of violence – it’s sick, it’s sick, it’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
Amid the calls to cool down the overheated political rhetoric during this campaign season, within hours of the scary incident, Vance appeared to amp it up further with comments blaming President Biden’s campaign that drew bipartisan criticism for their timing and tenor. “Today is not just some isolated incident,” Vance wrote on X. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
At press time there is very little detail about the motivation of the shooter, a 20-year-old registered Republican who is believed to have acted alone and who was killed by secret service snipers seconds after he managed to squeeze off a flurry of shots from his semi-automatic AR-15 rifle from a rooftop near the rally stage.
See Black and Gass’ statements below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
