The latest show on Tenacious D’s Australian tour has been postponed after senator Ralph Babet demanded the pair be deported following an apparent joke about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

American comedy rock duo Jack Black and Kyle Gass were due to perform in Newcastle on Tuesday evening, but the show – part of the band’s Spicy Meatball Tour – was cancelled without notice on Tuesday afternoon.

Concert promoter Frontier Touring said on social media that it regretted “to advise that Tenacious D’s concert tonight at Newcastle Entertainment Centre has been postponed”.

Video from the event showed (Kyle) Gass being presented with a birthday cake and told to “make a wish” as he blew out the candles. Gass then appeared to say “don’t miss Trump next time” – just hours after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania that left the former president injured.

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
124 points

Since google puts twitter feeds at the top and that cesspit is full of idiots i decided to check lemmy to see if i was alone in thinking this is a huge over reaction.

Pretty safe to say that people of lemmy are my people.

Personally i see it as a joke, maybe one in bad taste. Maybe one that shouldn’t have been said. But a joke none the less. Its certainly interesting to see how the right react when the shoe is on the other foot.

permalink
report
reply
20 points

This is a taste of what’s to come if Trump is reelected. Mocking Dear Leader in good taste or bad becomes a punishable offense. Freedom of Speech goes out the window, disrespecting snowflakes in office is not allowed.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Unless they’re democrats, then he can just order them to be killed.

permalink
report
parent
reply
73 points

Literally my first thought was “who the fuck cares”

Whether you find a joke funny or not, or in poor taste, or whatever… “WAAAAAH I GONNA KICK YOU OUT OF THE COUNTRY BECAUSE WORDS HURT” is not the appropriate level of response.

And besides, I thought these fucks were all about being tough, growing a thicker skin, getting over it etc

Suddenly it’s not the same when it’s one of theirs in the crosshairs this time? Or I guess iron sights, if I read correctly.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

Is this the same angle you took when reacting to Dave Chapelle’s recent controversies? For the record, I agree with you, I just don’t see a lot of consistency on either side when it comes to stuff like this. Jokes are one issue where “both sides are the same” isn’t too far off. People in general pick and choose what they’re offended by and can’t easily follow their own advice to let it go when the subject matter touches one of their pet issues.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

I dont know if this is the same. I dont agree with Kyle Gas’ joke that trump should be shot, but i do believe it was a joke and not a genuine wish for harm.

Chapelle, on the other hand, is taking a stance on gender which i disagree with. He’s not telling jokes. He is taking a position. And since i disagree with him and i find his position to be dismissive and one of erasure which i wholeheartedly disagree with, i find it very difficult to continue to watch his comedy.

In short, kyle doesnt want to hurt trump, chapelle does want to pretend trans people dont exist. So i think its fundamentally different.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Dave Chappelle was punching way down while Kyle was punching about high up as you possibly can.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Oh, there’s plenty of inconsistency, and I’m definitely biased, no doubt about it.

(rant ahead, feel free to skip)

Of course, I agree with KG, and it’s not really a “joke” for me.

So any answer I give you will be pretty heavily skewed.

That said, I do kind of think the DC thing was a bit overblown, but I also think he turned into a piece of shit who thinks he’s allowed to punch down on others, but you aren’t allowed to punch down on any group he’s part of. “can dish it, can’t take it” crowd.

But especially given how successful his career has been (and I fully recognize his struggle in getting started), and continued to be, his complaints fall on deaf ears.

But yeah, I don’t claim to be consistent with how I judge people’s “in the moment” things, and since the people I oppose have no concept of “consistency” (as well as them actively trying to make people like me and those I love cease to exist) I don’t really see a problem with that.

There’s no point in fighting fair when you’re facing oblivion.

And krashmo this isn’t directed at you, if anyone wants to try and tell me that “that’s not what they want”, I grew up in a pretty republican heavy area, that also attracted a lot of progressive young families, so I’ve seen more violence directed at other than I care to recount. It’s not a “maybe eventually” scenario in my head. It’s “now”.

Sorry this turned into a bit of a rant.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

So, people can make the whole like, oh, this is a different context, kyle is joking, whatever whatever, right, and that’s both true and a fine argument to make. But I also think when we make this like, freedom as a principle argument, right, free speech as a principle, argument, it isn’t necessarily hypocritical.

We’re just not prioritizing freedom, prioritizing free speech, as the highest possible value that trumps all other values. I think kind of by necessity, it can’t be. The idea of free speech is logically incoherent if you take it to the extreme, because you could just define speech as being anything. Harmful acts, smearing poop on the bathroom walls, whatever. So you have to put a limit on it, and then those external values are going to be what places the limit on it.

Those external values of “I agree with kyle gass” vs “I agree with dave chapelle”. Agreeing with either argument, beyond that, thinking either argument, had in the public sphere, is worthwhile, that’s what has to define the limits of speech and freedom and what has to drive the outlook on it. I might oppose the poop swastika in the rec center bathroom, but I might think the ACAB poop smear in the nazi bar bathroom is maybe okay, even if it’s a little misguided or kind of just stupid or whatever.

There has to be a core value there. It’s not necessarily hypocritical to believe that political violence can be called for, or justified against your foes necessarily, and then think that the same thing shouldn’t be done to you on the nature of your ideology strictly being better. If my foes are basically just evil, straight up, yeah, probably at the very least stop them from like, having undue economic influence, which depending on who you ask, is gonna be some form of economic violence by nature of stripping away their agency or property or whatever. That doesn’t necessarily strike me as hypocritical, or not believing in equal rights or anything, it just strikes me as pragmatic.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points
*

The first set of Dave’s trans jokes included him basically saying that while he doesn’t understand trans people, he ultimately accepts them for who they are. In that era I defended the jokes because I felt it was valid to joke about stuff as long as you ultimately aren’t trying to hurt, belittle, or delegitimize ordinary people. The follow-up jokes weren’t nearly as understanding and I no longer felt like Dave cared about much beyond being a dick. He seemed to double down on the punching down without bothering to build them back up again.

Anyway, there is a fundamental difference with Trump, in that he’s downright a fascist, so joking about his death isn’t exactly punching down. It’s more like wishful thinking.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

They shouldn’t kick him out of the country. They should kick him out of the band and write a song about it. And than write a song about how they got back together

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

It’s ironically very against the American ideology to do what he’s doing. Free speech is kind of a big deal here. Again, ironically, the conservatives talk about this way, way more often than anyone else.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-4 points

Babet asking for deportation is not the real story - he’s just an idiot making ridiculous statements for attention.

I don’t really buy into the “just a joke” defense. There’s plenty of things one could say “as a joke” that we would and should denounce as a society, and political violence is one of them. Celebrities have a responsibility to uphold social norms or at the very least not to normalise concepts we will not tolerate as a society including political violence.

Yes, you and me can see that what was said was “just a joke” but there’s plenty of people who would hear that joke and assume that wishing Trump would be assassinated is a normal opinion.

[Jack Black][(https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-16/tenacious-d-trump-joke-cancel-australia-tour/104105448) has cancelled the rest of the tour, and not because of Babet’s comments, but more likely because he can’t continue with Gass.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

There’s plenty of things one could say “as a joke” that we would and should denounce as a society, and political violence is…

Not one of them. Kyle isn’t a militia member calling to arms and no vulnerable people are being harmed by being irreverent about a fascist preaching violence barely missing the consequences. Don’t punch down, but do punch Nazis.

Celebrities have a responsibility to uphold social norms or at the very least not to normalise concepts we will not tolerate as a society including political violence.

What the fuck do you think comedy is about?

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

Well I think comedy is obviously not about assassinating politicians I don’t like, and apparently jack black agrees with me.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points
*

I literally just had this argument with a friend. I made the same points as you. It was tongue and cheek. While not an OK think to say, it’s comedians making jokes. Cancelling a tour and deportation seems like a gross overreaction to me.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Especially from an explicitly politically left performer like Black. Grow some balls man.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Ah, but you forget that nobody has a sense of humour any more. We can’t laugh at ourselves let alone anybody else.

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points

He’s a comedian for fucks sake. He’s supposed to make jokes. Whether dark or not. I’m so tired of manufactured corporate outrage

permalink
report
parent
reply

World News

!world@lemmy.world

Create post

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

  • Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:

    • Post news articles only
    • Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
    • Title must match the article headline
    • Not United States Internal News
    • Recent (Past 30 Days)
    • Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
  • Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think “Is this fair use?”, it probably isn’t. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.

  • Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.

  • Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.

  • Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19

  • Rule 5: Keep it civil. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to “Mom! He’s bugging me!” and “I’m not touching you!” Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

  • Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.

  • Rule 7: We didn’t USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you’re posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

Community stats

  • 11K

    Monthly active users

  • 8.8K

    Posts

  • 98K

    Comments