Kyle Gass of Tenacious D Reflects on His Trump Assassination Joke and His Relationship with Jack Black
Kyle Gass has expressed regret over a joke made during a Tenacious D performance that referenced an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Gass revealed that the off-handed remark has haunted him since its delivery.
In the interview published on January 21, Gass reflected on the long-lasting impact of his statement, made shortly after an incident in which a shooter targeted Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania. Gass, who jokingly wished that the shooter wouldn’t “miss Trump next time” while celebrating his birthday on stage, admitted he was unaware of how seriously his words would resonate. “People [were] gonna pick that up,” he said, acknowledging his naivety.
“I’m human, I made a mistake,” Gass stated. “I was going for a joke. But timing is everything. If there was ever a ‘too soon,’ it was this. And maybe I thought I was on it, or ahead of the curve. But no, it was definitely too soon.”
Trump narrowly escaped injury when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired on him during the rally, leaving one spectator dead and two others injured. This serious context raised the stakes for Gass’s ill-timed comment made just two days later. Following the backlash, Tenacious D canceled the remainder of their tour dates for that year.
While Gass publicly apologized for his remark, bandmate Jack Black distanced himself, expressing his shock in an Instagram statement. “I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form,” he wrote. Black also announced that future creative plans were on hold, thanking fans for their support during the turbulent time.
Addressing whether he felt abandoned by Black, Gass told Rolling Stone that he understood his friend’s actions. “Jack was doing what he felt he had to do. We’re separate people, always, and we’re on different career paths. I totally understood what he needed to protect.”
“Jack and I are all good,” he added. “At the end of the day, we’re friends. I’ve known Jack since he was 18, and it’s been such a long marriage, really. You go up and down, and we’ve always taken long breaks.”
Reflecting on the fallout from his joke, Gass described the experience as “a tsunami of s–t rolling over you.”
“And then there’s the regret,” he added. “Like, ‘Why would I do that?’ I just didn’t put it together. And the ramifications were so huge.”
