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.
from the party of "fuck your feelings":
hOw DaRe YoU jOkE aBoUt ThAt!!!!!!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Oh Kyle, why did you say that? If you say your birthday wish out loud it won't come true!
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.
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. :(
Damnit, Kyle - you had one job!
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.
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.
Looks like kyle stayed true to the Metal
Kudos Kyle, for speaking the truth!
#TeamKyle
I mean to be honest half the world is probably saying the same thing.
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.
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?"..
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.