Jack Black cancels Tenacious D tour and places future projects on hold after Kyle Gass comments on Trump

Clbull@lemmy.world to Music@lemmy.world – 487 points –
Jack Black cancels Tenacious D tour after Kyle Gass's comments about Donald Trump
bbc.co.uk

Jack Black announced on Instagram that he's cancelled the rest of the Tenacious D world tour and placed future projects on hiatus.

This happened after his bandmate Kyle Gass sparked controversy by commenting on the recent Donald Trump assassination attempt.

At their recent Sydney show, Kyle Gass was given a birthday cake and asked to make a wish for his 64th birthday, to which he said "Don't miss Trump next time."

In his later statement, Black said he was "blindsided" by his bandmate's comment and condemned any calls for political violence.

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Thankfully, it's not the commentary I was afraid he'd offered. JB sounds spineless in this, it was a joke and an honest expression of the very real existential fear people feel towards Trump rule.

I fucking hate this. Trump gets on mic everyday to wish death on some innocent groups of people but we're fucking forbidden from joking about it towards him?

Edit: I hope everyone who downvotes me gets very peacefully and nonviolently re-educated.

I think it's complicated a bit by the fact that this was said on stage at one of their shows. I think canceling the tour is a gross overreaction, but with the current political climate (even ignoring the assassination attempt) I can understand some hesitancy to proceed if anyone is going to be associating them with calls for political violence.

All that said... based birthday wish, fully agree with Gass's joke.

What joke? Hopefully the next person doesn't miss.

Agree. Absolutely not a joke. Former president has caused, is causing, and will continue to cause active violent harm to the country, but it's not appropriate to talk about how justified it is to stop him?

He's literally above the law now; there is no peaceful way to adequately deal with him in a timely manner. He, his conservative judges, and the republicans in power have backed the American people into a corner of violence.

He murdered thousands of people with a willful mishandling of a pandemic virus for stupid and shortsighted reasons. He is a mass murderer and terrorist who may become President again. And people are worried about fucking decency.

Politicians are always responsible for deaths of their constituents as an indirect result of their actions, it's just a question of how many. We set up legislative and judicial systems to address this question rather than relying on mobs and vigilantes. It's called living in a civilized society. It's not about decency, it's about creating a safe society we want to live in. Personally I don't want to live in the wild west where anyone with a gun can play judge, jury, and executioner; you may feel differently.

But I agree that the recent SCOTUS ruling is worrying, because it does appear to put the president above the law. As JFK put it, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable". Not good, not preferable...but inevitable.

I would have much preferred the government do it's job and protect us from this literal fucking comic book villain. But it hasn't happened, and it probably won't. So this is what happens.

I can't see anything in this helmet!

  • Luke Skywalker

I was with you right up until you used based...

Now I'm blocking you to cut down on the borked brain comments I see.

What a shame, you've contributed greatly to this conversation, you will be missed 🙏

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Yeah, the time for civil has passed. The attempt of his life happened because no one is willing to do anything about him.

It closely echoes what I thought at the time. "Do not miss, or do not take the shot." As Yoda said, "There is no try."

Personally I was hoping for a heart attack. Did anyone think an assassination, successful or not, wouldn't just lead to a complete shit-show?

I was hoping the "excitement" of almost being killed would have lead to a heart attack, but who am I kidding? This is The Worst Timeline™ everything goes to shit and the absolute worst of us live forever and get everything they want...

This is The Worst Timeline™

Watch out, next time a bullet grazes him, he'll get superpowers instead

a shit show yes, but maybe less of a shitshow than a second term as POTUS.

To be honest. I think all famous people right now are preparing for the real possibility of a fascist dictatorship in america very soon.

They are trying to stay off of Trump's assassination list. If they stay in the mode of "we condemn violence towards trump" then trumps ego doesn't get hurt by them and they end up having a mysterious heart attack, drug overdose, or 3 in the back of the head "suicide"

JB has always been about softball though. It's part of what we like about him. He doesn't run anyone the wrong way. He's out to be inoffensive.

Yeah, this guy (Trump) vahemently opposed the largest American protest in our history. The idealogy he opposed was simply "black lives matter". He and his cronies vilified the entire movement by labeling the movement "Antifa", and making it synonomus with terrorists looking to destroy America.

He gassed his way through the middle of protesters and the very clergy of a church he visited to hold a Bible upside down, and later re-tweet a video about a golfer yelling "white power". These are fascist actions, and all while theoretically attacking "Antifa".

And now we're never supposed to even JOKE about him dying?

Fuck that, and fuck Trump.

Well there goes my respect for JB, is he a secret Trump supporter?

He’s a very popular actor/musician that isn’t looking to wade into any controversy that might damage his popular brand.

Controversy? He's not looking to get fucking shot.

That's just so fucking rock and roll of him.

Some people are content to simply mind their own business. Not everyone is interested in the current controversy.

I think he mostly doesn't want to get shot by angry Magats.

Just privileged and out of touch. You'd think he's a celebrity or something.

Trump gets on mic everyday to wish death on some innocent groups of people but we’re fucking forbidden from joking about it towards him

So you want the freedom to be like Trump?

Personally I'd rather no one had the ability to wish violence on others without consequence. But I guess to each their own.

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I feel like I'm through the fucking looking glass. Trump has called for violence on many individuals/groups, led a goddamn insurrection in which people died, and will certainly be responsible for more bloodshed elected or not, but we're supposed to play this stupid as decency game because he was shot? I lost all respect for Jack Black today. Must be nice to afford this decency bullshit. He won't be put in a camp if these fascists succeed.

Trump literally called for people to assassinate Clinton in 2016.

Exactly. This wasn't an attempt on your run of the mill republican shitbag. This man is a real fucking threat and so are all of his supporters/followers.

When will you start with your assassination plans then?

he doesn't have to do it,but he doesn't have to be nice to the ones crying about agent orange getting shot at. fuck that orange bitch.

Ah so if they have no income or anything else to lose, they'll talk mad shit about assassinating a person. Yeah I guess that makes sense. Having absolutely fuck all to lose tends to lead to shit talk

if this were the case, it would have happened sooner. people are not in the best place over the last few years, living literally paycheck to paycheck. I'd bet stats would show higher suicide rates recently than before.

You all somehow are missing the point that an anonymous commenter saying shit isn't significant compared with a person losing future work for years. Yes JB is a millionaire but he surely still has the right to work and it would be absolutely fucking moronic to give that up to stand behind something any media company wants plenty of distance from. What the fuck would it prove anyway? "We should all want terrible people dead. Hey in fact let's all openly talk about that all the time too. Don't agree? Fuuuuck youuu!!" Stupid.

Internet users really seem insulated from reality sometimes. It's sad.

lol because we expect people to choose real world stances and fight issues rather than "well if I say I don't like a bad person, I may lose money over it, so I wont stand for basic human rights and morals because it may hurt my wallet". jack black is a pussy after throwing his partner under the bus.

Coincidentally, at the same time as your's.

Yours*

I'm not the one advocating violence like a troglodyte, that'd be you. Law enforcement will take note.

The point of my comment was to say you dont have a plan either. People are rightfully pissed. Project 2025 is the end of Democracy. If you wanna get upset at people for doing literally anything thats on you.

What a twisted individual.

!remindme 1 year

When Trump has had time to rape America into a christian nationalist ethnostate

In one or a hundred years it will still be bizarre to think that standing up for political violence is useful on any level. It doesn't matter if you want trump dead. It's the fact you think "standing up" for it changes anything an iota for the better

Standing up? As opposed to what? Supporting the system that birthed a class of corrupt officials in a little over one hundred years? Or just letting it flatten me and my family?

This is real. Real shit happens. If you are the one dialing for violence, and you've been stirring that shit up for years, dont be surprised when violence comes out the oven. Its about time people got mad. Its about time we said fuck you. You can't do that. You can't hide history from us. You can't ban books. You can't take away the one thing a fucking society is supposed to do for us. Its about damn time.

You're one of those people on the Internet who has no idea what's being said, goes on an irrelevant condescending tangent, and somehow has no idea that's what's happened. Not my issue

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I feel like it's just more of that corporate fence sitting. It's just extra strange and off putting when it's coming an individual versus your average soulless company.

I wouldn’t say strange, so much as disappointing.

We feel like we have relationships with entertainers, and most of the time we feel they represent - well, something other than corporate fence sitting. Being reminded they’re a product more than a person really sucks the air out of the room.

Or a person who doesn't want to be shot.

Honestly, I’m growing weary of that sentiment. It’s a scared, suburban sentiment.

They don’t deserve to be lionized, and I do not fear them.

They are paper tigers. Tacti-cool mall-ninja clowns.

They do not deserve respect, nor caution. They are only as empowered as they are allowed to feel. They deserve only ridicule.

Seriously?

Jack Black might want to be silly in front of audiences without fear of being shot.

I'm not talking about you or me, the average person with no exposure.

I'm talking about the people who are in front of people constantly.

You don’t have to elaborate or draw ever finer distinctions in search of a meaningful counter-argument. I reject your premise as not merely untrue, but unhelpful.

My statement stands.

I imagine personal safety is also a major factor. Concert security is a joke. KG making that comments paints a target on both of their backs.

They are domestic terrorists. Don't underestimate them.

Still, disappointing that JB has taken such a stance that seems to be neutral on hate and violence.

Not just their backs, but their audience as well. I wouldn't put it past one of the crazies to go on a mass shooting spree and kill a bunch of bystanders who are just there enjoying "Fuck Her Gently".

That's a good point. I just couldn't imagine doing that to my long time friend.

To play devils advocate, a comment like that has the potential to put you in the crosshairs of one of these nut jobs the FBI/DHS has told everyone to be on the look out for. There was a large uptick in these domestic terrorist groups calling for retaliation (even though the guy was a Republican), but everyone on the Right has intentionally not mentioned his political affiliation and just said things about the "radical left" just pouring gas on the fire.

Basically this. Even if they wanted to continue the tour, Gass just massively increased the chance of another mass shooting by some nut job out to get revenge. If that had really happened, it would've completely sunk everyone involved and people would be claiming that they were the ones that invited the catastrophe.

That's... pretty fair. It's easy to say things online, but Gass just made things very hard for concert security. How hard would it be for a right winger to sneak a gun into a concert and get close to the stage?

That's a fair take. I've been very frustrated with the respectability politics this week and it might be a bit unfair to him, as he isn't a political figure, but an entertainer who didn't initially choose to say anything. I can't say I'd throw my boy under the bus like that, but I'm not him.

I don't take calls against political violence as throwing anyone under the bus. He said he was "blindsided", which I take to mean he didn't expect him to say what he said. He also:

  1. did not agree with more violence (a good take when it comes to democracy)
  2. recognized Kyle put the whole crew at risk if the tour continued - as this would for sure make it to front page of every right wing hate filled cesspool

I think Kyle said it as more of a joke than serious, but when you don't know who is in the cult and who isn't when your looking out at a sea of people at a concert it sounds like Jack made the right call. Getting on a soapbox and "backing" Kyle would would just further put them and their crew in danger.

At what point do we decide danger is required for freedom? Before the freedom is gone???

Well, to be fair, I think that is up to each person to perform their own risk assessment. Some people have no fear, a death wish, or just willing to "die for the cause". I don't think we should be shitting on performers because they feel responsible for all of the many lives around them, and don't want to make that choice for all of them. That is something the Right does/wants to do. But I think voting against fascism will prove to be the easiest way, and will have the greatest impact come November. Getting yourself or someone else killed by people that are unwell and armed will just be one less vote against fascism come November.

A lot farther down the line than this clown show situation at least. We don't have roaming bands of conservatives disappearing people in the night, anything close to coordinated attacks, or even anything happening yet that remotely resembles targeted violence happening at rising rates.

The US has weathered worse storms than this. Germany recovered. At horrendous loss of life, but it did.

If you're aware and worried, then now is the time to prepare. Save up money, take a gun safety class, and get one. Get hours in at the range shooting to build your aim and muscle memory. Make sure your emergency bag is well stocked, and you have discussed your emergency plan with your family. Be ready if/when the time comes, or get the hell out of dodge.

Don't fucking rush its arrival. Don't get yourself put on a fucking list of early targets by saying dumb shit online.

Don't be the kind of person yelling into the void for someone else to kick off the bloodshed while you sit around and panic spiral. Prepare motherfucker, and hope you never need to use it.

Germany recovered

What an absolutely insane thing to say. At least 70 million people did not, in fact, recover. And that's just the death toll. The collective generational trauma inflicted by the Nazis has probably affected lives in the order of the high millions or low billions. We are still feeling its impact today. There is a genocide happening right now that is, in part, being enabled by what the Nazis did.

That's like saying climate change isn't a problem because the planet will survive. Unbelievably unhinged way to talk about actual human lives.

My whole point of bringing up Germany is that even if things get worse than people are worrying they will, there is still hope and all is not lost. You're absolutely right that it was quite possibly the most horrific event in human history.

I think the shitty thing is that for someone who was supposedly "blindsided" by what Gass said, he was chuckling at it.

This is either Jack Black throwing his bandmate under the bus because he otherwise would have been pulled from future movie projects, or they've received more than enough hateful comments and death threats from Trump supporters that they've been spooked into cancelling the tour for safety reasons.

This is a strange take to me. Nervous laughter is, famously, a thing. You can simultaneously be surprised by something that was said, not actually support it, but still laugh. Especially when you're in the middle of a show, literally on a stage, in front of thousands of people.

yeah, he probably didn't fully process the possible ramifications of a comment like that in the middle of a performance.

no fucking shit. fuck that man, I hope he chokes out on a very well done steak and ketchup concoction

Sincerely I am baffled at the take most comments have on this... Does this mean that because trump is a fucking fascist piece of shit that calls for violence against anyone he doesn't like we have the right to call for violence against him? Just because trump is a disgusting waste of biological matter that rapes kids do we have the right to rape his kids? What the fuck is with all these comments calling coward to jack black for pointing out how out of place is such a thing to say... It's a joke that I could do, in a group of close friends, that I know how they will take it. I'm pretty sure jack black would have found it funny in private. But in the middle of a show? Do we really need to remind people that calling for violence is not OK? Yeah we could take his comment as a joke... But what if some people in the audience are unhinged enough to take it seriously? The comment was definitely out of place. Freedom of speech has limits, and his comment is very much crossing the limit.

Look, I'm not going to lie, if I hear trump drops dead randomly tomorrow I wouldn't feel particularly sad (or at all) but I wouldn't ask for him to be assassinated or call for terrorism against republicans no matter how wrong I think they are and how dangerous they can be. What the fuck... there's so many people here hoping for a fucking asshole to be assassinated it's kinda scary even. That's not the solution against trump or republicans...

I guess we'll see how you feel when trumps supreme court sanctioned death squads of deputized gravy seals are murdering and raping in your neighborhood.

Don't use fallacies to defend violence. Killing trump is not the only way to avoid that from happening. Becoming a terrorist and promoting violence against a political group contrary to your political opinion is not OK no matter how dangerous that group is. You are using the same discussion techniques that fucking maga asshats use. Seriously you don't see the issue on the way you are defending the idea that assassinating a political opponent is the only way to defeat that opponent?

You are defending the republican gun nutjob that went to shoot trump and accidentally killed someone else? You are saying his decision making was the kind of behaviour to glorify? The same kind of nut job that will happily join in the death squads you talk about? What the fuck, how does your brain work? How can you not see the hypocrisy of what you are saying...

Of course that's assuming a sincere take and not just some piece of shit bot or account made to increase violence hatred and division.

How about we consider it self-defense and get on with it then? Trump has tried to end democracy once before, January 6th to be exact. Wasn't justice supposed to prevail or something? No? It hasn't yet? It likely never will? The only way to protect myself going forward then is to...? You tell us Mr. Violence is never the option, since the courts don't work, and voting is soon to not matter.

And your proposal is that justice should prevail by a public mass shooting to kill the orange turd?

So your thinking is that because trump tried to end democracy, now you have the right to kill him?

The only way to defend yourself is with guns and killing those who attack you? I wonder what group of people keep proposing that...

People like you, already defeated months before the election, saying that voting doesn't matter, have a lot to do with the end of democracy. Go vote, make it matter.

Shit's real fucked, you have in the states a candidate for presidency instead of being in prison like he should. And the problem is that no one has killed him yet? No wonder that justice won't work...

Either you are just trying to help the orange shit posting this kind of defeatist comment on purpose or you are just as bad as a republican that keeps saying those who oppose him should be killed.

How many lives do you think Trump will destroy? If the answer isn't "a lot", you haven't been paying attention. His supreme court justices from his last term have already started racking up one hell of a body count.

Would you object to police officers gunning down a mass shooter rather than allow them to continue taking innocent lives? How sacred is a single life against the lives of their many potential and actual victims?

From a purely ethical standpoint, it's hard to argue that killing fascists is anything other than a net moral good. At the end of the day, it's taking one life to save many, something that we accept as an unfortunate moral necessity all the time. Obviously, we prefer to exhaust other options first, but ultimately we still accept the use of violence to protect the innocent when strictly necessary.

(I am, of course, speaking purely in terms of ethical hypotheticals here)

But you are talking about a completely different thing. Here's what it boils down to:

Obviously, we prefer to exhaust other options first

Does it look like that? Not really... Not when people are cheering for some asshole to be assassinated. This is not about the value of one life, this is not about the use of violence of armed forces to try and save others, this is not about the lives that trump would destroy. This is about people cheering for a murder, this is about a public figure inciting violence publicly... Did you notice the reaction of someone like Biden or Sanders (the two examples I know of, surely there are others)? immediately rejecting the actions of a violent man that decided to open fire against a big amount of people, it's irrelevant who he was aiming for. The only solution for anyone talking in this thread is killing trump, instead of voting the other (albeit very imperfect) party. It's still months before the election and everyone is acting like trump has won already and the only solution is killing him. Wtf.

I guess this thread and conversation has shown me why the US has such a gun problem. Why the police is absurdly violent against anyone they consider a threat. Why someone would resort to shooting a bunch of people if they've been bullied for years or whatever and feel threatened. Fucking sad...

All of this is not about me wanting trump alive and well, I don't want the orange turd around, I'd hope preferably that he rots in prison though and that he has very "nice" cellmate with him, but if he's gone from the surface of the earth all the better for the rest of us. That is not the same as inciting for violence, or approving the assassination attempt that has killed someone else.

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You lost all respect for Jack Black because his career was worth more to him than one extremely shortsighted comment that he didn't even choose to make himself?

Your point is apparently that anyone who doesn't stand proudly by "good" assassinations is a piece of shit?

Trump getting shot has really shined a light onto the Lemmy audience. For fucks sake within 20 minutes every other comment written about it was a stupid conspiracy theory about it.

Now people are saying shit like you did and getting upvoted for it. I guess I won't be here much longer.

Well said. Jack Black is the fun guy making fun music. He's obviously not pro-Trump but he's a professional - I don't blame him for not wanting to be associated with comments like that for the time being.

I'm a little disappointed with the phrasing of the announcement but there's unfortunately a high chance Trump will be president and he's pretty outspoken about getting rid of his critics.

people who won't stand for their convictions is why the Democrats can't get shit done. he believes it, just doesn't want to lose $ saying it out loud. it's ALWAYS money.

trump deserves it, he wishes violence and death on many people, bummer that someone should make him eat his words.

This isn't anything new. There's a whole lot of people on the Fediverse who throw the word Fascist around willy nilly but who will happily make use of Fascist rethoric in regards to those who they see as political enemies.

They seem to think that the bad thing about Fascism isn't the authoritarianism, political violence, censorship, etc, but the fact it's a "right wing" government behind those - those would all be perfectly justifiable means to an end in the name of a left wing movement.

I see this happening more in american politics than over here, and I think it's in part a lack of knowledge of history, but also never having had an actual fascist regime in the country's recent history. My parents were tortured by the political police. I have a bunch of family who lived under an actual Fascist regime, and colleagues from other countries with a recent history similar to mine, and I notice that people in general, even in the far left, are way more careful about how they use the word Fascist. American internet "leftists" - which I put in quotes because many don't seem to actually hold any left wing views - love LARPing about living under fascism and that somehow excusing every thing they claim Fascism is bad for - against their political enemies.

There was a phrase tossed around by some "leftists" in opposition to the terrible clusterfuck that was gamergate back in the early 2010s. Sometime around then at least.

"No bad tactics, only bad targets"

Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of people in the world lately who believe it.

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Jack Black is trying to use his massive A-list star power to get Biden elected, something that will actually help people. Kyle Gass made an offhanded joke that could jeopardize that. So Jack Black needs to distance himself, and I'll bet you money Kyle Gass agrees with him.

It's an impossible situation to be in, but I kind of agree with Jack Black's move on this. He can do more good as a Hollywood A-lister for Biden than he can as an "edgy" rock star with a guy nobody's ever heard of.

The disrespect to the Gass man is ridiculous. Honestly Tenacious D comes from the same era of ridiculousness that gave rise to Borat, and I don't see why Kyle shouldn't be given the same leeway to say wild ass shit that Cohen did.

Yeah... pointing to the Zionist who just got canceled For being sexually inappropriate on set and to defend himself released a video of himself being sexually inappropriate on set isn't the defense you think it is. Even his wife left him.

And no offense to the gas man. I'm a 35-year-old white guy. I've been in love with the gas man for two decades now. But be honest with yourself, Most people don't know about Tenacious D. The second biggest category think of Tenacious D as Jack Black's band with that guy. That doesn't really compete with Bowser from Mario levels of fame.

Man I'm actually kinda sad I somehow missed Cohen getting super canceled. I'll have to go look for it.

Me too. This is a surprise to me but I don’t pay much attention to E news or whatever we wanna call it

That doesn't really compete with Bowser from Mario levels of fame.

I understand what you're saying but man, I hate seeing people water themselves down for fame.
One more reason to not be excited for the upcoming Minecraft and Borderlands movie.

This is a good take, but I really fucking hate the constant "we go high" shit.

we're so fucking high right now we can't see the people below being eaten alive and actual Nazi flags being flown to scare people from voting. but hey, it's cooler up here.

I really fucking hate the constant “we go high” shit.

The guy that took a shot at Trump was a Republican. And the guy who would have inevitably driven a car-sized fertilizer bomb into a crowd of Tenacious D fans would also be a Republican.

This isn't "going high", its self-preservation. We live in a fascist country swarming with fascist cops and fascist vigilantes, and we need to fucking act like it. Every concert going forward would have had insane security costs because of this one off-handed remark.

Shit is so dark right now. The rational, empathetic person in me is still very much in control, and agrees with you. But the geopolitical realist in me is quietly whispering "Kyle has chosen the path of martyrdom."

The thing is, our opposition is not rational or empathetic.

Biden's speech at the NAACP was pretty good, and his calls to revamp the Supreme Court and make a new amendment were pretty cool

Well, seeing as going low does nothing but exacerbate this whole "us vs. them" mentality we have right now, which is how we're stuck in this situation in the first place... maybe get the fuck over it?

Man, americans really do need famous guys to tell them what to think.

Recently had to take a trip to the USA for work and it felt surreal... all the posters of whatever celebrity with captions like "XYZ wants you to stop littering" or "Such-and-Such only use Colgate". It felt like a brain washing operation for toddlers (and this was at the airport)

Meanwhile, George Clooney only does nescafe commercials in foreign languages.

Yeah. It’s fucking sad. Our education system gutted arts and critical thinking. We are doomed. Hope we don’t hurt you guys on our way down.

We are in a war for our future right now and we can take all the help we can get.

Nobody needs anything but to have access to the most famous people in the world, the most money in the world, and the biggest markets in the world, and not put them all together is just bad business.

Biden's demented. Neither choice makes any sense.

He could be a corpse and still would be a far better choice than Trump.

Oh Kyle, why did you say that? If you say your birthday wish out loud it won't come true!

Today I learnt to respect Kyle Gass even more

Nah man, he's an idiot. Can't believe he said that.

Everybody knows if you say your wish out loud it doesn't come true!

My heart dropped at the headline. I was like fuck, here comes some conservative BS.

I really hope this is just PR shit and Jack Black isnt ending a friendship with a longterm friend over an edgy joke, cause like man, I know he's a celebrity, but I had a lot of respect for him up until this point

If I was about to go on tour with my best friend and he said something stupid that put us in danger from real life lunatics with guns, I'd fucking cancel the tour too because I cared about us both and our relationship. Besides, if you can't tell your friends they're wrong when they're wrong, they're not really your friend. This isn't necessarily the act of betrayal you're making it out to be.

I'm betting that making this statement publicly makes it easier to break the tour contracts, rather than backing out of the tour without saying why.

That part I understand, its the "put future projects on haitus" I'm commenting about. Although I guess I gave more detail in my other comment than I did this one so fair play

And doesn't this go both ways? One of my favorite sayings is: a friend is someone who when you've made a fool of yourself, doesn't think you've done a permanent job of it. Perhaps Jack Black could forgive his best friend and move along. Perhaps make a joint statement at the next event.

Absolutely but a friend is also the person who pulls you aside and doesn’t let you go on stage before the heat dies down.

Just the other day, I looked at him with his shaggy ass beard, half done up bright shirt and too large shorts singing whatever the fuck and thought to myself:

"I have mad respect for jack black, That is a man that truly does not give a fuck. I should try and be more like him"

And then this reaction comes out and all that is gone and I'm reminded that I'm a terrible judge of character.

Looks like Kyle doesn't give a fuck more.

Jack did a fundraiser for Biden. I suspect he's just toeing the Dem line on this one. Doesn't really want to see "Democrat fundraiser calls for death of Trump" splashed across the news.

I'm more going to chalk it up to not wanting to stand on a stage within rifle range when maga lunatics are on the prowl.

The trick is to choose what to not give a fuck about.

Jack black doesn't give a fuck about others opinions of his appearance.

He does give a fuck about death threats.

Seems pretty sensible and reasonable to me.

Why? Because he's not ok with his band mate saying on stage someone should be murdered?

I think its more because instead of just saying "hey that's not cool" he publicly shat on his friend and threw him under the bus, disbanded the band, cancelled the concert.

He obviously knows Kyle pretty well, so this sentiment can't be a surprise to him. So therefore he has no integrity by supporting his friend behind closed doors and being two faced when his sentiments are aired in public.

Part of not giving a fuck is having the integrity to be who you truly are, and from his reaction I can see is just an act.

It goes both ways though. Kyle should also know his friend wouldn't be happy about potentially losing his career over calls to murder a person for political reasons.

Disclaimer: I fucking hate Trump and wish he was killed years ago so I'm not saying I disagree with what Kyle said, I'm just disagreeing with when he chose to express it because he was there representing tenacious D which extends to jack as well. I'll also add that at this point I worry that killing Trump now would only replace him with someone actually competent to drive the fascism train over the tracks that are already firmly in place, but that's a different discussion.

Come the fuck on Jack, you're better than this.

I'm like 99% sure they recieved threats after what Kyle said, so I don't blame Jack.

Its not Jack, it's the bullshit cancel culture.

Glad we're finally acknowledging that shit is real

Cancel culture is real.

Its what the right does every time they get their panties in a twist.

Hell, a lot of Project 2025 is nothing but cancel culture shit.

Y'all burying the lead here: Kyle blew on a birthday cake and made a wish but he spoke it out loud! Now it'll never come true. :(

*lede

~Sorry~

TIL, huh.

Lede feels like it only exists for that expression, unless you're in journalism. The biggest irony is it's actually a 1950s alteration of lead, but the expression came out of journalism so here we are.

I mean to be honest half the world is probably saying the same thing.

I assume Jack and his team probably started recieving threats from the crowd that shot at Trump (republicans).

I guess attempting to kill and joking about killing Trump is a privilege that only republicans enjoy

TBH I don't give a single solitary fuck who Republicans think or don't think is allowed to do anything. That doesn't mean Jack Black has to risk his life over some ha has.

This barely would be known if it wasn't for them splitting up over about it though. They said it to an Australian crowd. They ain't doing anything about it.

There have been no statements about the band ending, but they have almost certainly ended the Australian Tour, sadly. Gass has also been dropped by Greene Talent agency, so he might have to work to regain trust from the business suits if they want to do big events again. Both Gass and Black have both been apologetic and on the same page with their public statements.

They once wrote and performed a song about killing politicians and ruling as idiot kings, they'll be fine.

Ahh, think I misinterpreted Black's "all future creative plans are on hold" statement. Forgetting the "on hold" part.

The last thing we need is this piece of shit to become a martyr. Let him go down beaten by a black woman at the polls, like the loser he is.

At this point Trump being shot is the best thing that could happen to the Republican party. And I wish them only the worst.

I empathize with his statement, but it was a bad idea to express it publicly like that.

From a purely practical perspective, it immediately balloons the security costs of the tour through the end of the year. Black was smart to cancel the tour and probably saved a few dozen lives in the process, giving how trigger happy Trump's base has proven itself to be.

Food for thought, this is what a win for terrorists looks like. When you can't make a joke for fear of violence, that's the goal of the violence.

Guess someone ought to do something about these terrorists - isn't that what the War on Terror is about?

(Sarcasm)

Maybe. It seems like a bit of an overreaction to me, and I really don't like the idea that we can't say mean things about their god emperor because they'll get mad and be violent. Has Muslim and Mohammed vibes.

I really don’t like the idea that we can’t say mean things about their god emperor because they’ll get mad and be violent

I don't like it either. But that's stocastic terrorism for you. It's anti-populist and anti-liberty by design.

Only solution is to police the fascists until they're more scared of you than you are of them. And that doesn't work if the cops are on the fascists' side.

Has Muslim and Mohammed vibes.

No shortage of Christian terrorism. Just ask any abortion clinic nurse.

No shortage of Christian terrorism. Just ask any abortion clinic nurse.

The clinic that did the selective termination that saved my twins' lives had to be so cloak and dagger about their stuff that we literally had no idea we were showing up to the termination until they're wheeling my wife back to surgery. It's one of the only clinics in the state that even does the procedure we needed to my knowledge. That's how many bomb threats, arson and assassination attempts they deal with.

Serious question, if you don't mind. How did a selective termination save twins' lives? Was your wife originally carrying triplets or quadruplets in a high-risk pregnancy? I'm entirely pro-choice, the wording is just a little odd and I'm having a hard time parsing the meaning.

Ah but it is the liberals who are fostering an environment of violence

Advocating shooting someone is just "mean things" now?

I understand the sentiment, but it doesn't all fall under the same umbrella. Saying he has small hands and advocating that someone shoot him dead are not the same thing.

I understand your sentiment as well, but it gets old seeing so much hand-wringing about advocating violence against a fascist who advocates violence while giving his violent followers a pass. "Oh, that's just how they are! We have to coddle them or they'll kill people! But you're terrible!"

Yeah, Trump was mid-speech "here's how we're going to deport every single just-minding-their-own-business brown family from our country" when he got shot, too.

Not that that was why he got shot, but it does make all the handwringing funnier.

Apparently turning his head to check his immigration notes saved his life. This is how we know there is no god.

I get that its a heavily inappropriate thing to say right now, but at the end of the day it's an edgy joke, and while ending the tour because of security concerns (and pr concerns) makes sense, cutting all professional ties with the guy seems a bit extreme, especially since he's already apologized

Having an effigy of a beheaded Trump is more of an edgy joke (Kathy Griffin in 2017). Wishing an assignation attempt that actually occurred to have been successful is a little different.

I'm talking about Kyle Gass here, was it him or Kathy Griffin that did the effigy? That's a lot more than making a joke about a possible president thats more than likely going to fuck up the entire world hadnt dodged a bullet, but again, if it wasnt, and were just talking about a joke, Once again its not inappropriate enough to end an entire lifetime relationship over, especially after he apologized and owned up to it being inappropriate

Did he actually end a relationship? Or just cancel the tour? I would argue that if he would have died and actually become a martyr it would be much worse. I also don't think of he does actually win the whole world is going to be f'd up. Thats mostly just rhetoric. Will he suck? Yup. Will he be there next putin that has unlimited terms? No chance.

If you think another Trump presidency isnt going to seriously have a negative effect on the world, I do not have the energy to engage with you on this

That's not very rock and roll, Jack.

What a fucking cowardly statement.

Damn. It's gotta be stressful as a public figure toeing the line between basic decency and a desire to not get investigated by the S(ecret) S(ervice). Can't say I blame him for wanting to distance himself from that type of commentary

As somebody with experience being on tour and playing shows every night and having a mic in front of you. Maybe a little toasted on stage as well. You tend to say things that you normally wouldn't. High energy, adrenaline, trying to keep the crowd entertained and think on your toes. You can say things right as they come to you without full consideration.

My guess is, that this will be the outcome of all of this. An apology along the lines of what you just mentioned, and a "back to reality call". At least I hope so

He already apologized and said he was wrong to say it.

KG should not have apologized.

Apologies are designed for human beings and entities capable of experiencing empathy. Conservatives are not able to process the concept of an apology. They are just as unable to recognize apologies as they are unable to issue them.

Yeah, maybe Jack Black will come to his senses.

No matter our politics, hopefully we can all agree with JB about not wanting to get shot by reactionary Christofascist radicals. I assume Black and Gass's politics are pretty well aligned with each other, and Gass didn't say anything a lot of people aren't also feeling. But you can't say that shit on stage in front of thousands of amped up fans. --not because it's wrong to say or because it's not politically correct or even because it's controversial. You can't say that shit because some of the people in the audience are unhinged and have already been radicalized by the Right.

Take a stand for the First Amendment, and take a stand against censorship, sure--but while you're standing, be prepared to duck.

I don't blame any public figure for not wanting to expose themselves to an outsized risk of violence. That risk is largely Trump's fault, but notice how I'm blaming him from somewhere other than an elevated, well lit platform in front of a room full of strangers on drugs.

"Don't take a stand against fascism, because a fascist might get angry" 🙄

And I guess if you're part of a group already being targeted by angry fascists, it'd be something like "why didn't you warn us about fascism sooner?"..

I think it’s more like “don’t publicly stand for political violence towards fascists because their base is unhinged and you bring the violence on yourself”. Also, the violence has given the fascists power. Right now, the dems defense has to be damage control. I know many people wish Trump had been taken out (especially by another republican) but it didn’t happen, most likely won’t now, and dems need to put on a “we don’t condone violence” face so they can maybe try to win.

I think it’s more like “don’t publicly stand for political violence towards fascists because their base is unhinged and you bring the violence on yourself”.

So as long as they're bringing violence to everyone but you, it's all good then.. 🙄

Also, the violence has given the fascists power.

News flash - they had it long before this joke happened

Right now, the dems defense has to be damage control. I know many people wish Trump had been taken out (especially by another republican) but it didn’t happen, most likely won’t now, and dems need to put on a “we don’t condone violence” face so they can maybe try to win.

Laugh my mother fucking ass off.

The fact that you, anyone, still put faith in the democrats to stand up, never mind defeat, fascism, especially after the pathetic display of the last few days where they've all literally grovelled to the fascist in chief, is as depressing as it is astounding. And it doesn't end well.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/romeo-kokriatski-respectability-politics-or-you-gotta-be-nice-to-monsters

Okay, then what’s the answer? Because I’m afraid, unless we get some nation-wide support, no one is going to vote 3rd party (and there are no truly leftist candidates anyway). Even if we were to get the support, there’s no guarantee that we have enough or that those who said they would vote 3rd party really will. And even then, we won’t get all the dems on board anyway, which will split the vote. You’re against fascism, but the unfortunate thing is that the dems are the only shot unless you’ve got a revolution or a really game-changing candidate up your sleeve. The problem is, it’s crunch time and we have few options. I’m mad about it too and I agree with you on most points, but what else can we really do?

Edit: Please don’t just downvote. I am serious when asking for the answer. If I can have a viable option, I will take it.

I think standing up to fascism is different from putting yourself on a stage in front of potential cult members looking for retaliation. The guy is a comedian/actor/musician, he's not looking to take a bullet from some unhinged wacko to somehow prove ... fascism bad?

How many here talking shit are planning to do a soapbox tour of the US calling for Trump's death? Just putting yourself out in front of a crowd of potentially unhinged folks, unarmed, to try and prove some kind of point.

I chose to believe he is being honest about why he cancelled the tour, and it wasn't because "I agree with my buddy, and we're going to stay out of the limelight for a short minute to stay safe", but because "my buddy wants a fascist dead, and I can't be seen to agree".

I also find it fucking hilarious that people seriously think anyone is going to target this guy (or that he doesn't already have/ can't afford security), when there are significantly bigger targets out ther.

Nutjobs have shot of grocery stores and movie theaters that had no real "targets" other than people to shoot. Now mark yourself as "the enemy" of a cult by just using your first amendment right, and one could follow to a logical conclusion that maybe you would be putting your putting yourself and your whole road crew at risk.

You also have to stop thinking about these people as logical. Nothing they do has logic involved. They are members of a cult, logic was checked at the door long ago. As for being a target, these guys are famous, and people talk shit and threaten stars for far less then wishing death upon the cult leader.

Nah, Xhieron has a point. You don't want to piss off a radicalized group of gun-toting rednecks. All it takes is one extremist right-wing nutjob and a loaded firearm to end your life.

I mean a 20 year old incel came within inches of killing Trump at a rally, and unlike Donald, Tenacious D and their crew do not have the luxury of secret service protection.

I chose to believe he is being honest about why he cancelled the tour, and it wasn’t because “I agree with my buddy, and we’re going to stay out of the limelight for a short minute to stay safe”, but because “my buddy wants a fascist dead, and I can’t be seen to agree”.

I also find it fucking hilarious that people seriously think anyone is going to target this guy (or that he doesn't already have/ can't afford security), when there are significantly bigger targets out ther.

its one thing to willingly make yourself a target, but another to put your friends in the crossfire without their consent. Not just Jack but their crew, fans, venue staff, etc

I chose to believe he is being honest about why he cancelled the tour, and it wasn’t because “I agree with my buddy, and we’re going to stay out of the limelight for a short minute to stay safe”, but because “my buddy wants a fascist dead, and I can’t be seen to agree”.

I also find it fucking hilarious that people seriously think anyone is going to target this guy (or that he doesn’t already have/ can’t afford security), when there are significantly bigger targets out ther.

well firstly, you are the one who just said:

“Don’t take a stand against fascism, because a fascist might get angry” 🙄

that is what I was responding to.

but whatever, if I respond to your most recent comment you are copying and pasting everywhere, you're being a bit naive if you think safety didn't factor into the decision at all, or that any of these people couldn't be targeted. There are whackos out there who could be targeting anyone for any reason and being on stage is a vulnerable place to be (see dimebag darrel, for example). And if something like that happens, it's not just the target in danger, but everyone in the vicinity including the entire venue. People are likely to get trampled while fleeing, see just about any active shooter situation with hundreds or thousands of people crammed together.

"don't stand up for your rights, it might get you hurt" is a very weird take tbh

"don't invoke violence in an emotionally charged environment with thousands of people, especially when it puts your friends and coworkers in the crossfire."

1 more...

When your masters use violence to oppress you, the only justified action is violence against them in a pursuit of freedom.

1 more...

Hey Jack, I love you. But eat a fucking dick, coward.

Honestly this just makes me sad.

I thought better of JB. This is a far cry from a call for political violence.

This is like saying "come on, guys, Hitler is a person too and we shouldn't be wishing bad things on them" in the 1930s.

I can't imagine being so spineless I'd throw my friend under the bus over a comment that, honestly as far as I'm concerned doesn't go far enough.

money > convictions

spineless response by him in my opinion.

money > convictions

It would make him money to continue the tour, not to cancel it

nah, he's virtue signalling

It doesn't seem you understand what virtue signaling means

help me out then buddy, because what he's doing is "expressing a moral viewpoint to communicate good character", which is the EXACT DEFINITION.

Virtue signaling is telling people you're a great guy. When you demonstrate it with actions it's just called being virtuous.

Jack is a Coward. I stand with Kyle. Remember, whenever someone calls for violence, that the head of project 25 said "We are in the midst of a second American revolution., which will remain bloodless, should the left choose it to be."

Don't think for a second Trump is against it.

That sucks, I hadn't had the chance to see them before, but I got tickets for a show they're having near me in a few months. I guess I need to see what getting a refund looks like.

I never thought I'd say this but fuck jack black.

Don't you see? He's the man! Let me hear you applaud! He is more than a man, he's a shiny golden god! ...

He. Is going. To kick your fucking ass! And! You know, his name is Kyle Gass! Rocking and fucking rolling and fucking rocking and fucking rolling and fucking (Jack Black scatting noises)

Most of the western world fought back against the Nazis in WWII for the very reason that fascism is deeply hostile to a healthy democracy and a free society.

Kyle was right: we didn’t teach our soldiers to miss back then, so there is no excuse to miss now.

Was a right wing idiot, listening to right wing hate and violence, who took a shot at a right wing idol.

Theres nothing "ours" or "soldier" about it.

Tbf, there was a WWII instructional film that taught "how to get killed", but that was sarcastic (and about the Pacific theater)

Read: Man in his 50s found excuse to not do a tiresome thing

I saw his show last year, and the energy he puts into them is incredible. Dude has more energy than most people half his age.

Then let's go with the alternative: Man overreacts and acts self righteous over a joke. Cancels other people's plans.

Here's what really happened: A man with an actual moral compass decides work life balance and his relationship with his long time friend and business partner is more important than money, and has decided to take the time to figure things out between them.

If your actual moral compass tells you the real problem is not coddling fascists when they get what's due to them, it's pointing in the wrong direction.

Jack black is a better human than me, I won't argue that point.

This is why I blocked lemmy.ml, along with hexbear.net and lemmygrad.ml - too bad those user blocks are so ineffective and still show every comment from every user from there.

Blocking the instance is not blocking the users of that instance. Confusing, but it's separate functionality. Instance blocking blocks all posts from the instance showing up in your feeds. Doesn't block comments or users, you still have to do that individually.

Probably should be renamed as an option, because logically you would think it would block everything from that instance, not just posts/communities.

Right, you basically cannot block all comments from those instances. Though it does prevent notifications if they reply to you. The only way to avoid wasting your time with them is to block each and every single person that comes along, including every single new one. Which also does nothing to stop them from downvoting you. In short, unless an entire instance defederates from them and you join it - which none of the well-known instances do, and it is not entirely so trivial to spin up your own - there is nothing that an individual user can do about the situation, atm.

And sometimes I even have enjoyable conversations with people on those instances - still, those are in the extreme minority (fewer than 1/1000) and I would choose to sacrifice that to have the option to walk away entirely, if I could. Especially since I could always have an alt account elsewhere to get the best of both worlds. As they also do in turn (several have openly admitted this), to get around the instance defederations.

I'd have a lot of energy too if i'd make millions of dollars to sing mediocre songs.

The answer is drugs

Edit: do you guys actually think people dont take any drugs for these massive stage performances?