In hindsight, it was inevitable — Tenacious D, the band that gave us such explosively polemic lyrics as “Fligugigugeee”, the pioneers of “inward singing“, has finally pushed its radical message too far. At a show in Sydney, Kyle Gass, one half of the veteran stoner-comedy rock duo with actor Jack Black, made a tasteless offhand joke that his birthday wish was that someone makes an assassination attempt on Donald Trump that doesn’t miss.
Ralph Babet, United Australia Party’s senator for posting on social media, was first to leap into action, demanding the band be deported:
I call on the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to join me in denouncing Tenacious D, Jack Black and band member Kyle Gass, and I call on the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to revoke their visas and deport them immediately.
This is the same senator who in April refused to take down graphic footage of the attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel from his X account because: “Without free speech our nation will fall”. Late last year the senator sent Communications Minister Michelle Rowland 152 “postcard-style” submissions regarding the draft Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill “on behalf of members of the public”, like the following:
Meanwhile, Kyle Sandilands — who once joked about the weight loss effectiveness of concentration camps, and who called a journalist who reported on his ratings as a “fat bitter thing” whom he would “hunt down” if she didn’t “watch [her] mouth” — has issued the pair with a lifetime ban from appearing on his show.
Opportunistic content creators would always make something of this. However, what elevates this to newfound levels of absurdity is that a bad-taste joke by a group that had a massive novelty hit in 2002 elicited a response from US ambassador and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, currently trying to make people forget how he called Trump a “traitor to the West” as he shakes hands at the Republican National Convention. Rudd pulled a “dad scolding his beatnik son in ’60s” by telling the D to “grow up and get a decent job”.
It really added to the “blast from the past” vibe — imagine trying to explain any of this to someone in, say, 2007 when Rudd had just become prime minister, Trump was the long-time host of The Apprentice, and Tenacious D’s movie The Pick of Destiny had bombed because their fans were too stoned to make it to the cinema.
And it continued from there. Tenacious D cancelled its next show, and then the tour entirely, and both Gass and frontman Black issued statements distancing themselves from any calls for political violence against a man who, while in office, repeatedly suggested protesters and illegal immigrants be shot.
Tenacious D has largely amused itself by putting out sincere cover versions (you’re welcome for the video, by the way) of old classics in recent years. Perhaps it will soon be forced to add The Chicks‘ “Not Ready to Make Nice” to that collection.
Are we a nation of joke-loving larrikins or not? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
