{"id":88469,"date":"2024-07-17T13:24:38","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T03:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=88469"},"modified":"2024-07-17T13:24:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T03:24:42","slug":"devastated-fans-mourn-tenacious-ds-cancelled-tour-after-trump-assassination-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=88469","title":{"rendered":"‘Devastated’ fans mourn Tenacious D’s cancelled tour after Trump assassination joke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fans of Tenacious D are “devastated” the\u00a0band has cancelled the rest of their Australian tour\u00a0<\/a>in the wake of a controversial onstage joke about the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Parsons and his family travelled more than four hours from Armidale to Newcastle to see Jack Black’s comedy rock duo in concert on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They found out through social media the event had been cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We were devastated but my kids were devastated as well,” Mr Parsons told ABC NewsRadio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“[I’ve] been a fan of Jack Black for a long time, was looking forward to it. [I’m] definitely out of pocket a lot now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band was scheduled to play shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Band member Kyle Gass made a joke about Donald Trump’s assassination during their July 14 Sydney show.(TikTok: @_esilem)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During a show in Sydney on Sunday night, Black asked bandmate Kyle Gass if he had a birthday wish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Don’t miss Trump next time,” Gass responded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australian ambassador to the US and former prime minister Kevin Rudd said it made him “physically ill” to see someone joking about violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I mean, people might think it’s a bit of funny ha-ha at a concert to run off at the mouth about this stuff. It’s not,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s about the near-assassination of the former and prospective president of the United States \u2026 and it’s about the murder of an innocent civilian and two people being seriously wounded.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Rudd spoke from the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin<\/a>, where Trump has been officially confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These people should just grow up and find a decent job,” Mr Rudd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black told his Instagram followers he no longer felt it was appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour and said: “All future creative plans are on hold.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ticketek will automatically refund ticketholders by for their purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Gass said the line he improvised was “highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that he did not condone violence of any kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing number of Australian politicians have criticised the comment, which has provoked global outrage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Liberal senator Anne Ruston told Channel Seven the comment was out of line and akin to inciting violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is absolutely no room in Australia for this kind of hate speech,” she said. “I don’t care who you are.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Rosewarne, a researcher in media, politics and popular culture at the University of Melbourne, said it was unclear if the band would recover from the comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m not sure it’s going to affect him one way or another,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Jack Black has been campaigning quite vigorously for Joe Biden and anti-Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you were going to resent him for his politics, that would’ve happened before today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“These people should just grow up and find a decent job,” Mr Rudd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":88401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[999,35,2811],"tags":[8933,11580,11581],"class_list":["post-88469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia-politics","category-breaking-news","category-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-donald-trump-assassination-attempt","tag-kevin-rudd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t