American actor Jack Black announced on Tuesday that he is cancelling the tour of his comedy rock band Tenacious D because his bandmate Kyle Gass joked about attempting to assassinate Donald Trump during a show in Sydney, Australia.
“What was said at the show on Sunday caught me by surprise. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form. After much reflection, I no longer feel it appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour and all future creative plans are on hold,” Black said on his Instagram account.
According to Variety, during the concert, Black brought out a birthday cake for Gass, who was turning 64, and Gass made the following wish: “May they not fail Trump next time,” a reference to the shooting that the former president and Republican candidate survived the previous day.
Black, famous for his roles in School of Rock, The Holiday o Kung Fu Pandaposted the message without the option to leave comments, but the previous post accumulated thousands of them, generally negative, from followers who demand his “cancellation” or call him “anti-American.”
The actor, a noted Trump critic, initially appeared to laugh at Gass’s comment, as did the audience, according to a fan-taken video that has gone viral on social media.
“Don’t let Trump fail next time”
Gass, for his part, posted an apology on his own account in which he explained that he was improvising, but admitted that his joke “was very inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake,” said he was against violence and considered the incident against Trump “a tragedy.”
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
