Tenacious D - Cancel Australian & New Zealand Shows Over Assassination Joke Backlash
American comedy rockers Tenacious D have faced a double blow of criticism following their show in Sydney on Sunday night. During the show at ICC Theatre, Kyle Gas was presented with a birthday cake. Asked to make a wish, he announced: “Don’t miss Trump next time,” sparking laughter from the 9000-strong crowd. After a clip of the show spread through social media, with mixed reactions, it was panned as distasteful by several high profile Australians, including Senator Ralph Babet, Ambassador to the US and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and controversial radio host Kyle Sandilands, leading to the band postponing their Newcastle show on Tuesday night. More can be read below.
Later that night, Jack Black announced that the remainder of the Australian and New Zealand tour was to be cancelled, and questioned the band's immediate future. "I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form," he wrote on Instagram. "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."
Kyle Gas later apologised, saying "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 apologise to those I’ve let down and truly regret any pain I’ve caused."
Following the announcement of the tour's cancellation, fans took to social media to blame Jack Black for overreacting to what was considered "satire from a comedy band" by many fans. The cancelled shows were set to be in Newcastle (16th), Brisbane (18th), Melbourne (20nd), Adelaide (22th). Wellington (24th) and Auckland (26th).
Later that night, Jack Black announced that the remainder of the Australian and New Zealand tour was to be cancelled, and questioned the band's immediate future. "I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form," he wrote on Instagram. "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."
Kyle Gas later apologised, saying "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 apologise to those I’ve let down and truly regret any pain I’ve caused."
Following the announcement of the tour's cancellation, fans took to social media to blame Jack Black for overreacting to what was considered "satire from a comedy band" by many fans. The cancelled shows were set to be in Newcastle (16th), Brisbane (18th), Melbourne (20nd), Adelaide (22th). Wellington (24th) and Auckland (26th).
| news.com.au | |
| Band profile: | Tenacious D |
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Comments: 25
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| A Real Mönkey Posts: 1176  |
I had no idea Australians were as spineless as the jellyfish that swim in their waters.
---- Need a break from headbanging? Restore your street cred by visiting my hip-hop list! Tha Swagnum Opus: A Selection Of Hip-Hop For The Curious Metalhead
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| Loki MacElwee Posts: 3 |
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3536  |
The fan reactions quoted in the source article really confuse me. I find both Kyle's apology and Jack's decision to step back for a while to regroup absolutely respectable. Here are two people who have the integrity to own up to their mistakes, and instead of being supported, they are being vilified. People sometimes make bad jokes in the heat of the moment, but that doesn't change the fact that Kyle misused his stage to promote the murder of another human being. That is not something to be taken lightly, and it is probably a joke that most people would have the decency not to make in the first place. Especially not in front of an audience of loyal fans. I hope this backlash doesn't make things worse for the band, as they seem to be doing everything right. How people get from there to accusing Jack of "trying to protect his celebrity status" is beyond me.
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| Nejde Posts: 1695  |
Written by corrupt on 17.07.2024 at 23:08 You wrote the same thing in the Shoutbox and that's still an utterly ridiculous statement. He didn't promote the murder of Trump. He pulled a stupid joke and got backlash for it. I'm not defending him, but with today's social media climate exactly everything is blown out of proportion and it's getting tiresome. It was a really bad joke but it doesn't matter what the joke is because there will always be someone who is triggered or offended so you can't joke about anything anymore. But again, it was a very distasteful joke to make.
---- Liebe ist für alle da.
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| Blackcrowe Posts: 537  |
Who cares ….
---- Invisible To telescopic eye, Infinity. The star that would not die
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| M C Vice ex-polydactyl Posts: 3407  |
Written by Blackcrowe on 18.07.2024 at 04:35 The people who had tickets to the six cancelled shows?
---- "Another day, another Doug." "I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples." " 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7557  |
Now that is tomfooler-ish from comedy rockers and it deserves to get cancelled. I've seen comedians getting cancelled on vacuous jokes, but this was beyond ignorance. You pulled up a high school skit and then regretting like a wailing high school kid. Own up and move on from here.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62002  |
Bad joke in sensitive world. I think in 80's it would work more. Sometimes I think best is keep quet thinks what you really think or even a joke. Even I dislike T and also guy from Slovakia, but still.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Madlax9999 Posts: 6  |
Written by Nejde on 18.07.2024 at 00:04 Ridiculous as this might be or not, the real reason why they are cancelling their shows is because this joke has made them possible targets from political extremists. This possess a security risk for venues that host them. And many gig organizers do not wish to take the risks as well as the costs for ensuring extra protection for them because of stupid jokes like this. What the leftist spectrum is having to deal with right now is the fact that actions and words have consequences, and when you demonize an individual or a group of people the way the left has done with Trump and the Republicans/Conservatives, you are giving ideas to extremists. And when you go out of your way joking around with not missing a presidential candidate next time (meaning that you want another assassination attempt to occur) you got to be prepared for the consequences. There are some things that you should not joke about. Such as supporting the assassination of a political rival. Because you never know who takes the joke seriously. Plenty of brainwashed lunatics are on both sides, so giving them ideas is never a great approach.
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| Chidder Posts: 187  |
It's not about whether one is too sensitive or not. There are jokes that are on the edge, there are jokes that some may find offensive. However, there are certain boundaries. One doesn't make jokes about an attack in which innocent people were killed. What's next? There's going to be a school shooting, then we'll laugh that teenagers need to be forced to play CS to get more headshots? Or if some terrorist holds a rally in a Berlin square again, we'll laugh that he needs to be sent for a driver's license? Black's behavior is correct at this point. He knows that his colleague has fucked up big time.
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3536 |
Written by Nejde on 18.07.2024 at 00:04 He absolutely did promote the murder of Trump. "Don't miss trump next time" both says to make sure he dies and that there should be a next time. And it is by no means blown out of proportion. Yes, it was a stupid joke. But not one that was made in private. Kyle made that joke on stage in front of an audience and abused his platform to promote such a message. I agree that we can argue about how severe consequences should be, but there have to be consequences. You cannot argue with the fact that popularity gives you public reach and puts you in a position to normalize behavior. There are decades of sociology to prove this. Any public platform comes with a responsibility not to use it to hurt other people. It's not about offending individuals, it's about having strong moral standards and communicating them. Kyle is a fallible human being like everyone else, and I have said that I believe his apology is sincere. But it's still important to make a clear statement that the band does not condone such words, and they do. I find that commendable.
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| Nejde Posts: 1695 |
Written by corrupt on 18.07.2024 at 10:07 I still disagree. Have you even seen the clip? He says it jokingly which is quite obvious by the phrasing. Because it's all about the phrasing. Had he said "I hope someone will try to assassinate Trump again and finish the job" and being all serious, then yes, he would be promoting the murder of Trump and he would probably face some sort of felony charges too. Tenacious D is a comedy band and he said in front of an audience to get some laughs. Inappropriate, yes. Distasteful, yes. But I still think there's a big difference between actually promoting a murder and joking about a murder.
---- Liebe ist für alle da.
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| Nejde Posts: 1695 |
Was Gary Holt promoting the murder of the Kardashians when he wore the t-shirt that said 'Kill the Kardashians' on stage? Obviously not.
---- Liebe ist für alle da.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7557 |
Written by Madlax9999 on 18.07.2024 at 08:38 I agree with your first para. Also, this is not 80s and 90s where you can easily get away with crassy jokes. Social media is such a fucking cesspool where folks digest straight into the heart. So, making such joke have to come with severe consequences rest aside eventuating security threat to the venue. He welcomed his cancellation.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62002 |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 18.07.2024 at 13:09 that's what I said before and I prefer old days. To me it was joke and mean joke, but what we can do, many dont like that Donny.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Madlax9999 Posts: 6 |
Written by Nejde on 18.07.2024 at 12:37 You are grasping at straws. He said "Don't miss Trump next time". This phrase, whether it is meant to be a joke or not (I kind of doubt it, considering their political affiliation), means that you support the assassination of Trump, and you imply that it should happen again. If this is not promoting the murder of Trump (as a joke or not), then I don't know what this is. Even if it is a joke, they still need to face the consequences. Right-wingers have been lambasted for much less. Often times for nothing.
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| Stormm Posts: 168  |
Written by Nejde on 18.07.2024 at 12:55 Looks like whole world wants them dead then.
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| Sangre Sani Posts: 395  |
In my mind, a joke, even the darkest one, does not equal promotion of the subject of said joke. If I don't like the joke, I don't laugh. And for crying out loud, it's a comedy band. It's like buying a ticket to a Jimmy Carr stand-up show and cry afterward that every joke offended you. I miss the old Internet… 
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| Karlabos Posts: 5735  |
I guess cancel culture is all fun and games until it happens to you, heh?
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| M C Vice ex-polydactyl Posts: 3407 |
Written by Karlabos on 24.07.2024 at 01:01 There seemed to be more people upset at Black for cancelling the tour, than at Gass for making the joke in the first place. And I just realized I misspelt Gass several times in the article.
---- "Another day, another Doug." "I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples." " 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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| Netzach Planewalker Posts: 1761  |
What really triggers me here is that the joke wasn't even funny, I've made better ones about this incident. Not in public however and not from a place of authority, like when performing on a stage... Joke or not (who knows, maybe he meant it), you never know if some new psycho will get triggered to actually go through with the suggestion - the Americans have debated whether the assassination attempt was caused or at least made more likely due to the harsh tone used between the presidential candidates - and that surely wouldn't be funny at all. There are countries where political assassination is commonplace, they're called dictatorships, and preserving democracy where we still have it is more important than ever these days.
---- My "blackened synth metal" solo project: maladomini.bandcamp.com. Whenever I write something funny, weird, or pretentious... I learned English by playing Baldur's Gate, okay?
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3536 |
Written by Netzach on 24.07.2024 at 13:42 That, and it reduces a political agenda to the face of a single person, which is a terrible oversimplification of what Americans are dealing with. Trump may have been a catalyst for what the GOP has become over the last decade, but removing him won't undo that process or change what they have planned. Platforming with a single person instead of a whole written agenda may be an effective strategy - certainly effective enough that the approach is being copied all around the world - but there comes a point when people are so far removed from the democratic process that they actually believe it is just one person that needs to be removed. That is dangerous on so many levels. Assassination attempts on political leaders is just one of them.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7557 |
Written by corrupt on 24.07.2024 at 14:48 Correct. This mindset also mirrors extremist group behavior as well, where there's an incessant urge to eliminate a leader to dismantle the group. Recently, fueled by social media, this approach has seeped into politics fostering a dangerous environment.
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9155  |
He should have went with a 9/11 joke instead. The kids love those.
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817  |
Written by Netzach on 24.07.2024 at 13:42 Well it's Tenacious D, they've never been funny. So I dunno what you expected. The US has been doing political assassinations since the start of their existence. They just fucking cry about it when their rhetoric sometimes backfires onto their own leech politicians. They fuck over and assassinate (or try to) other countries' political figures all the time. Imagine someone saw a Tenacious D show and "actually went through with the suggestion" (killing trump?). That would a) be super incredibly funny actually and b) cool and great. Also stirring up stochastic terrorism is bread and butter for the US conservatives, they do this shit all the time and they love it. If you're seriously worried about dictatorships and "preserving democracy" (in a country where there is no democracy and the electoral republic they have is fucked beyond repair), that's just kind of laughable. The least person on earth someone should be sad about dying is an American President. Written by corrupt on 24.07.2024 at 14:48 The thing is though, that the GOP has literally no one else. The only reason they even got Trump in was because of gerrymandering and electoral college. Same for Bush. They're insanely unpopular and they need someone who at least loves his time in the spotlight and has the media center around them, like Trump. He couldn't even pick a VP that had much backing and people laugh at his pick now. And the whole "oh no the movement isn't just Trump, guys" just kinda is completely the opposite of how fascists have worked ever. They always center around one guy and when that guy dies they scramble and lose focus. Will it fix the system? No, but it would be a huge blow and also really funny, so.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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