Fans of Tenacious D are “devastated” the band has cancelled the rest of their Australian tour in the wake of a controversial onstage joke about the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump.
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.
They found out through social media the event had been cancelled.
“We were devastated but my kids were devastated as well,” Mr Parsons told ABC NewsRadio.
“[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.”
The band was scheduled to play shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
During a show in Sydney on Sunday night, Black asked bandmate Kyle Gass if he had a birthday wish.
“Don’t miss Trump next time,” Gass responded.
Australian ambassador to the US and former prime minister Kevin Rudd said it made him “physically ill” to see someone joking about violence.
“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.
“It’s about the near-assassination of the former and prospective president of the United States … and it’s about the murder of an innocent civilian and two people being seriously wounded.”
Mr Rudd spoke from the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump has been officially confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee.
“These people should just grow up and find a decent job,” Mr Rudd said.
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.”
Ticketek will automatically refund ticketholders by for their purchase.
In a statement, Gass said the line he improvised was “highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake”.
He added that he did not condone violence of any kind.
A growing number of Australian politicians have criticised the comment, which has provoked global outrage.
Senior Liberal senator Anne Ruston told Channel Seven the comment was out of line and akin to inciting violence.
“There is absolutely no room in Australia for this kind of hate speech,” she said. “I don’t care who you are.”
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.
“I’m not sure it’s going to affect him one way or another,” she said.
“Jack Black has been campaigning quite vigorously for Joe Biden and anti-Trump.
“If you were going to resent him for his politics, that would’ve happened before today.”
ABC News
