Live singer Ed Kowalczyk flipped off Trump Tower in a new photo and condemned the President.
In July 2024, Tenacious D faced backlash after guitarist Kyle Gass made a remark referencing the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump during a concert in Sydney, Australia. The show coincided with Gass’s 64th birthday, during which he said “don’t miss Trump next time” while blowing out candles on a cake presented to him onstage.
The following day, Tenacious D announced the cancellation of the remainder of their tour and an indefinite hiatus. Frontman Jack Black later said in a statement that he was “blindsided” by Gass’s remark.
Now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Gass has opened up about the incident, admitting that he regrets his comments.
“I’m human, I made a mistake. I was going for a joke,” he said. “But timing is everything. If there was ever a ‘too soon,’ it was this.”
“It’s overwhelming. It’s like a tsunami of sh*t rolling over you. 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,” he added.
“It was terrible. It was terrible judgment, obviously. I’ve felt terrible ever since, because it’s such a responsibility to not screw up like that.”
Quickly realizing his mistake, Gass issued a public apology to social media. “The day after. Like, OK, people are really disturbed and hurt by this, I have to apologize,” he told Rolling Stone. “It was hard to think straight, but I had some time to craft it. I did it myself. I ran it by the manager, and it seemed like I got what I wanted to say.”
But the damage was already done.
“The next day, my agent dropped me. And I was like, ‘Well, gee, it would have been nice to at least talk to you or something.’ But I think he wanted to get in the news cycle too …” Gass said. “It did feel like an overreaction. But that speaks more to my relationship with my agent. I’ve been around a long time, and I guess he was tired of me saying no to too many projects or something. He saw an opening.”
Gass went on to explain his decision to delete the apology, acknowledging that the move ultimately made the situation worse.
“I’m usually [just] recording Seventies covers on my Instagram. And so [the apology] was out for four or five days, and I thought, ‘It looks like a dead fish just laying there.’ I really did apologize, but I took it down because it’s out there,” Gass said.
“I saw it printed everywhere. I think that was definitely a misunderstanding. If I would have recanted, I would’ve said, ‘I’m taking this down because now on further reflection …’ But no. It’s out there. And then, it’s like, should I put it back up? It just felt so wrong at that point. To have that be a separate news story was really disappointing,” he continued.
“I definitely thought about trying to get more in the public discussion of it. But it just seems like you’re not going to get a fair shake, and you don’t know how much good that’s gonna do. And I feel responsibility to Jack and the band — this is people’s livelihoods that I put [at risk]. It’s pretty heavy.”
