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”.
“Ticket holders are asked to hold onto their tickets until further information is available”, the company said in a social media post. It said no further comment would be made.
Local media reported that Black had been shopping in Newcastle on Monday.
Babet, a United Australia party senator, demanded the federal government deport the band after Gass appeared to joke about Donald Trump’s attempted assassination at a Sydney concert on Sunday.
Video from the event showed 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.
“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,” Babet said on Tuesday.
“Anything less than a deportation is an endorsement of the shooting and the attempted assassination of Donald J Trump,” he said.
He added that allowing the band to remain in Australia was “unthinkable”.
While conservative and pro-Trump accounts online were heavily critical of Gass’s comment, Tenacious D did receive some support from others.
Numerous people posted in response to the videos circulating that the comment was a “joke”.
One X user wrote, “Classic Kyle. Long live the D,” in response to Babet’s statement; another supporter commented, “Are we really living in a world where a comedian can get deported for telling a joke? The Tenacious D / Kyle Gass situation is absolutely ridiculous. You don’t like their jokes, then don’t go to their shows. Simple.”
Black has publicly criticised Trump previously, and recently appeared at a celebrity fundraiser for Joe Biden.
Tenacious D was due to appear in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide before travelling to New Zealand next week.
