Kyle Gass has spoken about his falling out with Tenacious D bandmate Jack Black amid the backlash to his Donald Trump joke, while teasing a return for the duo.
Gass made a controversial comment about the assassination attempt on now-President Trump at a Pennsylvania rally during a live show in the summer of 2024.
He later apologised on social media, saying that the remark was “highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake”. However, Gass subsequently removed his apology.
Tenacious D went on to cancel the remainder of their tour and confirm that “all future creative plans [were] on hold”. Black promised that the band would “be back”, and they released a charity cover of REO Speedwagon’s ‘Keep On Loving You’ in early 2025. The pair are yet to play live together again.
Now, Gass has discussed the scandal during a new interview with Rolling Stone. “I’m human, I made a mistake. I was going for a joke, he told the publication. “But timing is everything. If there was ever a ‘too soon’, it was this.”
He continued: “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.”
Gass then remembered: “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 apologise onstage, like, ‘Hey, I wasn’t thinking straight’. But at that point there were safety concerns.”
The musician said the duo received threats, adding: “And once you get into that, it just doesn’t matter.”
Kyle Gass of Tenacious D is asked to make a wish on stage as he is presented with a birthday cake on his 64th bday.
He says, “don’t miss Trump next time.”
Jack Black cancels the rest of their Spicy Meatball Tour. Gass apologizes on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/Gmh9aejWAj
— Rock Illustrated (@RockIllustrated) July 16, 2024
As for his decision to post a public apology, Gass explained: “People are really disturbed and hurt by this, I have to apologise. 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. And then that became a story.”
He recalled the “tsunami of shit” that came his way afterwards.
“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’,” Gass said. “But I think he wanted to get in the news cycle too… 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.”
He went on: “[The apology] was out for four or five days, and I thought, ‘It looks like a dead fish just laying there’. I really did apologise, but I took it down because it’s out there. 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.”
Gass said he did not speak directly to Black for a short time, adding that they were “in our own camps at that point”.
“Jack has an agent, manager, and publicist, all that stuff, and they were doing their thing,” he explained. “And I was over here trying to figure out the best thing to do.
“[Black] 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. I didn’t begrudge him any of that.”
Gass admitted that he “might have deserved it”, saying: “He had to protect himself from his loose cannon partner over here. I totally understood once safety concerns got in.”
However, the pair “hashed it out” later on: “And it was hard. It is like a marriage. You go through these ups and downs, and try to understand your partner.”
Gass then teased Tenacious D’s future return, saying: “We’re gonna come back – it’s gonna be bigger than Oasis. We will be back! We will return.”
Following the Sydney show in which Gass made the ill-advised joke, Australian federal senator Ralph Babet called for Tenacious D to be deported from the country.
Black said he was “blindsided by what was said at the show” by Gass. He added in his statement: “I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form.”
Last May, Gass embarked on a UK and European solo headline tour, including a show at the O2 Academy Islington in London.