Tenacious D's Kyle Gass says that his ill-timed joke about the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump in July 2024 brought a "tsunami of shit" upon the band, but vows that he and Jack Black will be back.
In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone, Gass admits that cracking the joke was a "terrible judgment" on his part, and reveals that he felt "panic" as the backlash against the band spiralled wildly, and his musical partner publicly distanced himself from the scandal.
The incident took place on Gass' 64th birthday - July 14, 2024 - during Tenacious D's show at the ICC Sydney Theatre in Australia, and originated with Jack Black asking Gass to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the birthday cake he was presented with onstage. In a reference to the assassination attempt upon the presidential candidate by 20-year-old Thomas Crook at a campaign rally in Butler,Pennsylvania just 24 hours earlier, Gass joked, "Don't miss Trump next time."
While the quip got laughs at the time, and the gig continued as planned, footage from the gig was shared online, sparking outrage. Gass admits that he thought he was "safe in the bubble", but looking back, he acknowledges it was the very definition of "too soon".
The fall-out from the joke was immediate. While Gass issued an apology, calling the joke "highly inappropriate, dangerous, and a terrible mistake", the band cancelled all the remaining shows on their schedule, including US dates, and Jack Black quickly released a statement of his own saying that all future creative plans were "on hold" for the duo.
"Once it was picked up, it just got worse and worse," Gass recalls. "It was a Defcon 2 for sure in the camp. And I did it. It was hard to take responsibility for it, but it was my fuck-up. When you’re in it, it’s hard to even think straight. It’s just this thing flooding and coming at you."
As right-wing commentators heaped abuse on the band, Australian politician Ralph Babet called for the duo to be deported, and Gass' agent dropped him from his roster.
"It’s like a tsunami of shit rolling over you," he reflects. "And then there’s the regret. Like, Why would I do that? I just didn’t put it together. And the ramifications were so huge.
"We were discussing what we were going to do [with the band]. I think we were considering taking a show off and getting back out there. I thought I could apologize onstage, like, Hey, I wasn’t thinking straight. But at that point there were safety concerns. And once you get into that, it just doesn’t matter."
Gass admits that he totally understands why Black had to distance himself from the joke, but that the pair spoke after a time and resolved the issue to their mutual satisfaction.
"We hashed it out," he says. "And it was hard. It is like a marriage. You go through these ups and downs, and try to understand your partner."
Last year, Tenacious D returned in a low-key manner by contributing a cover of REO Speedwagon's Keep on Loving You to a 90-song benefit album, Good Music To Lift Los Angeles, to raise funds for those who suffered loss as a result of the Californian wildfires.
While Gass doesn't reveal exactly what's next for Tenacious D, he is bullish about their prospects on their return.
"We’re gonna come back," he says, "it’s gonna be bigger than Oasis."
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