Australian senator Ralph Babet demands the duo, Hollywood star Jack Black and musician Kyle Gass, be deported over the latter’s comment
The latest show on Tenacious D’s Australian tour has been postponed after senator Ralph Babet demanded the pair be deported following an apparent joke about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
American comedy rock duo Jack Black and Kyle Gass were due to perform in Newcastle on Tuesday evening, but the show – part of the band’s Spicy Meatball Tour – was cancelled without notice on Tuesday afternoon.
Concert promoter Frontier Touring said on social media that it regretted “to advise that Tenacious D’s concert tonight at Newcastle Entertainment Centre has been postponed”.
Video from the event showed (Kyle) Gass being presented with a birthday cake and told to “make a wish” as he blew out the candles. Gass then appeared to say “don’t miss Trump next time” – just hours after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania that left the former president injured.
Babet's comments aren't the real story though - he's just a dog whistling idiot trying to get attention.
Jack Black cancelled the rest of the tour, and not because of what Babet said:
Jack Black, one half of the American comedy rock duo Tenacious D, says he no longer feels it is "appropriate" to continue the band's tour following a controversial joke by his bandmate Kyle Gass at the band's recent Sydney show.
"I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday," Black wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.
Celebrities should not condone political violence. "It was just a joke" doesn't give you a free pass. There's plenty of things one could say as a joke which are completely inappropriate and unacceptable.
That's a relief I guess, but I still have a great sense of shame and remorse for our conservative politicians. In America they sell out to billionaires for huge rewards. In Australia they'll fuck the country for a bag of peanuts.