Surprising Tenacious D reaction from MAGA true believers at the Republican National Convention

If you thought Donald Trump supporters at the Republican Party convention would be the angriest at Tenacious D’s Trump remarks in Sydney, you’d be wrong.

Word has reached the MAGA true believers in the US about the cruel joke a member of actor Jack Black’s band Tenacious D made at a Sydney concert about Donald Trump and his near assassination.

But Trump supporters news.com.au spoke to at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had a surprising reaction.

Sure, deport them from Australia, as one Canberra senator suggested, but don’t cancel them.

“I don’t believe in cancel culture,” a Trump voter told news.com.au. Another suggested it was merely a “poor choice of words”.

Donald Trump supporters at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Trump was injured at an event in Pennsylvania on Saturday in an assassination attempt. Off-duty firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed, and two others were seriously injured.

Jack Black has said he was “blindsided” by comments made by his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass at their Sydney concert on the weekend. Gass has said he made a “terrible mistake”.

Gass was presented with a birthday cake on Sunday night, hours after Mr Trump was almost killed, and was asked to make a wish.

“Don’t miss Trump next time,” Gass said, sparking laughter from the 9000-strong crowd.

The remark led United Australia Senator Ralph Babet to call for Tenacious D to be deported from the country.

Hollywood star Jack Black performs with his band Tenacious D at the ICC theatre in Sydney on Saturday night. Photo: Tom Parrish

‘Poor choice of words’

Candice Bright, who was attending the convention from Arkansas, said she believed last weekend's assassination attempt was worse than the violence in Washington DC on January 6, 2021 when the Capitol Building was overrun.

“Yeah, really. Everybody who said something about the sixth who was there or near there has been persecuted, lost their jobs or something,” she said.

Around 1200 people out of approximately 2500 who are thought to have entered the Capitol Building have, so far, been charged.

“So I think (Gass) should have his visa pulled and I think he should come back to the United States,” Ms Bright said.

Black, at least, has indeed been spotted in Los Angeles after arriving back from Australia so has avoided any uncomfortable visa issues.

“I mean, Tenacious D, what relevance do they really have, honestly?” she said.

“People are calling for Jack Black to be cancelled, but it wasn’t even Jack Black that said it.

“Jack Black follows the Democratic Party, and that’s fine, it’s his choice, but I just think it was very ignorant.

Former US President Barack Obama, actor Jack Black and US President Joe Biden. Picture: X

“And I’m not sure if Kyle Gass really felt that way or if it was more because he thought his crowd would have appreciated that.

“It was a poor choice of words.

“He needs to go home, regroup and figure out his life.”

On social media, Gass has since said he did not condone violence of any kind.

“The line I improvised onstage Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake,” he wrote.

Republican National Convention attended Candice Bright (left) from Arkansas. Picture: Benedict Brook/news.com.au

‘No cancel culture’

Amanda Outen spoke to news.com.au at a market on the sidelines of the convention where you could eat a serving of Wisconsin cheese curds while perusing phones from Patriot Mobile, which bills itself as the US’s only “Christian, conservative wireless provider,” and play quizzes guessing how much inflation has risen by.

“It wasn’t a shock, I’m not shocked,” said Ms Outen, from South Carolina, of the Sydney Tenacious D outburst.

“One thing that has fed this division in our country is that there’s such an admiration by some of celebrities.

“They can speak whatever they want and they have a whole following. And that’s a problem. It’s called ideology and we’re a country of ideology and not ideas and there’s a difference.

“We need to get back to respecting each other and we need to get back to respecting each other’s differences.

“I don’t believe in cancel culture,” Ms Outen added.

A bust of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee by Indiana Limestone Fabrications. Picture: Benedict Brook/news.com.au

It’s a common complaint on the right that so-called “cancel culture” is the sole refrain of the left.

Critics have pointed out that politicians and activists on the right have made efforts to cancel scores of things: from books in libraries they disagree with to drag shows, and boycott many others, including beer brand Bud Light because it had a modest one-off partnership with a trans person.

Many on the right deny this is cancel culture, which shows what an amorphous term it can be.

But Ms Outen said tolerance of differing views should be “the minimum and acceptance is the goal”.

“Do we have to agree with them? No, we don’t. But we still, as Americans, have to respect them.”

It’s been a bad few days for Tenacious D. Picture: Tom Parrish

Former prime minister and current Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, also in Milwaukee, didn’t mince his words regarding Tenacious D.

“It makes me feel sick someone would joke about violence. Physically ill,” he told news.com.au on Tuesday, US time.

“People might think it’s a bit of ‘funny haha’ at a concert to run off at the mouth off about this stuff. It’s not,” he said.

“It’s about threats to physical life; it’s about the near assassination of a former and prospective president of the United States, depending on the votes of the American people.

“It’s about the murder of innocent civilians and two people being seriously wounded.

“These people need to grow up and find a decent job.”

Tenacious D initially postponed its Tuesday night concert in Newcastle. Now the remainder of the tour has been cancelled outright, Black announced on social media.

“I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form,” he said in a post on Instagram on Tuesday evening.

“After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold.

“I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.”

Originally published as Surprising Tenacious D reaction from MAGA true believers at the Republican National Convention