Jack Black renounces Tenacious D after co-founder Kyle Gass’ anti-Trump stage banter

Hirsute actor, comedian, and musician Jack Black has effectively announced the end of the Grammy-winning comedy rock duo Tenacious D in the middle of an international tour. This comes after Black’s partner for 30 years, Kyle Gass, made an off-the-cuff remark about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential nominee.

The July 14 Tenacious D show at the ICC Sydney Theatre in Sydney, Australia happened to land on Gass’s 64th birthday. During a surprise birthday cake presentation, Black prompted Gass to “make a wish.” His response was, “don’t miss Trump next time.” The line got some shocked laughter and a great deal of applause. Black did not “yes, and” the bit, and simply kept things moving. (During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania this weekend, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump.)

When the clip went viral, many Trump defenders took to social media to say they were shocked, shocked that anyone could ever make such a crack in public. Senator Ralph Babet, an Australian politician called for Tenacious D to be deported. 

On Tuesday morning (though late in the evening Sydney time) Black wrote that he had been “blindsided” by Gass’s statement, and would never condone hate speech or political violence. He added that it would be “inappropriate” for the current Tenacious D tour to continue and that all future creative projects between him and Gass were on hold. The group had six more shows in Australia and New Zealand lined up (five of which appear to be sold out) and dates Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and central Pennsylvania planned for October, most of which were also already sold out. 

 

Tenacious D won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for their 2015 track “The Last in Line.” (That these two goofballs won over Anthrax, Mastodon, Motörhead and Slipknot surely annoyed many a sullen teen.) They also have a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for the 2013 project “Rize of the Fenix.” The duo made their film debut in the 2006 comedy “Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny” and have made several television appearances over the years. Black is a three-time Golden Globe nominee for his non-Tenacious D work, acting in the Richard Linklater films “School of Rock” and “Bernie.” He was also nominated for writing and performing the Meat Loaf-esque song “Peaches” heard in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” 

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