Tenacious D and the Hollywood (Double) Standard

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Appreciate everybody for listening to us,and put that keyword in credit this hour

(00:03):
credit cr E D credit. Putthat in at kfab dot com. You'll
have a chance to one one thousanddollars in our nationwide contest. Okay,
So we sit here as American people. I would say most of us you
might be from you know, justvisiting from a different country. And that's
okay. But we are learning alot about different things. One of the
things over this past weekend was,man, maybe the rhetoric's gotten a little

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too far. Because Donald Trump survivedwhat was an assassination attempts. We are
learning as much as we can aboutthe shooter and a motive. And what
we're being told is it's hard todetect a motive because there's not a big
paper trail. There's not a bigtrail of information except where this guy is
a twenty year old. It's hisdad's gun. He's twenty years old.

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I don't know if there's any waythat his father could be held liable for
him having access to it. He'sa grown man, he's an adult.
If this would have been like afifteen year old, that's a little different
story. Went to home depot he'dbought AMMO. They have kind of a
paper trail of that, but theydon't know why he did it. Now.
Again, I tend to find thisguy to be a little bit more
school shooter profile or mass shooter profile, and not specifically a presidential assassin.

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This was just something I think heprobably wanted to prove that he could do
or attempt to do. That said, I can't prove that. I'm just
telling you how it feels to me. But I think the message from the
Democrats and people on the right,and again, I don't want to spend
time right now talking specifically about howit may have happened. There are obviously
a ton of questions in regard tothat, but the tone of our rhetoric

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in this country and maybe the topdown needs to change that. RFK Junior
leaked. He didn't, but somebodynear him leaked a phone conversation he had
with Donald Trump after the shooting andbefore today, and it got out there
on social media somehow inexplicably. Ihave no idea how, I have no
idea how, you know, andit's just such a breach of privacy.

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I had somebody email in and said, do you think Trump really cares at
all about that. I don't know, you know, there's nothing really earth
shattering. Talks a little bit aboutvaccines because he and RFK both kind of
aligned on vaccines, like not apost vaccine, but it wasn't tested properly
and there was all that. Therewas just a lot in it, and
they were injecting it into even smallchildren to get them vaccinated, and they

(02:24):
didn't feel comfortable with that. It'sstuff we knew about both of those guys
in the way that they felt aboutvaccinations. Also, he talked about getting
shot and the phone call he hadwith Joe Biden and said it was very
nice. Actually, you know,he had asked me a few questions about,
you know, like how did youknow to turn a little bit.
It really humanizes these guys to alevel that we don't see on the campaign

(02:44):
trail. They are going to bepretty cutthroat out there. Now. We
talked about the RFK thing. Ifyou want my opinions on that, you
can go ahead and find it onthe Emorysunger podcast page, which will be
available at kfab dot com and alsoon the free iHeartRadio app. But this
is where I'm at on this.These guys are human beings. Donald Trump
is you know, going to speakat some point. He was introduced last
night. Lee Green would play himout onto the stage of you know,

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God Bless the USA. Powerful moment. He's got a bandage on his ear
which was, you know, likea bullet went right through it. He
said in that phone call that wasleaked that it felt like the world's largest
mosquito bit him, is what hesaid. It felt like just were an
incredible turn of events the last fewdays. But it'll be interesting to see
how he talks about Joe Biden movingforward. Joe Biden said he's praying for

(03:28):
Donald Trump. At the NAACP conventiontoday, we see people even like Alexandria
Ocassio Cortez saying something like, I'mvery happy that the former president is okay.
These are things I never would havethought to hear from some of these
people about this, and I knowthat there are people that are going to
be pointing fingers and blaming the otherside. A lot of what I'm seeing
are anonymous people or high profile celebritieson social media, and certainly I'm I

(03:52):
know that that's going to happen,and it's going to be people like that
no matter what. But what myperspective is on this is we already are
seeing a little bit of a tonechange for now. This tone, this
more manageable tone. The words likethreat to our democracy, dictator, authoritarian
in regards to Donald Trump from theDemocrats and using his words against him and
completely out of context. That's mudslinging. That's something that has been used since

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the dawn of political advertising, andthat's part of the game. It has
been part of the game forever.I'm not expecting that to stop, but
it's the way in which it issaid and the way that they talk to
each other. The American people,I think need to see those guys shake
hands if you really want to makea point. If they do have a
debate later, or they're in thesame place at the same time, I
think it's important for them to shakehands. Republican National Convention a lot of

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speakers tonight, Nikki Haley among them, rond Dea Sants is supposed to be
among them. The vag Ramaswami wassupposed to be among them. Those are
some of the biggest challengers that DonaldTrump faced during the primary season. Make
America Safe again, is kind ofthe premise of what they're going to be
talking about. I'm sure you're goingto hear a lot about immigration numbers.
I'm sure you're going to hear anawful lot about illegal drugs and how human

(05:00):
trafficking is a massive issue. Thingslike that, Foreign policy issues probably as
well. These are all things thatI think are very important to note.
But it's going to be interesting tosee how these people talk about them.
Again, I expect them to saybad things about the Biden administration. That's
part of the game. There's stilla huge election this year, but in
the way that we do it,how we need to make sure that these

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leaders are talking to us in away that isn't going to get us to
a point where we want to commitviolent acts. We want to debate,
we want to speak, and wewant to vote. And even JD Vance,
when asked about this in May,was asked, which you accept the
results of the election this year,and the answer to that question was,
assuming it is a fair and freeelection, yes, I will hopefully that

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rhetoric, we should be able toask questions and JD also clarified that,
but I don't want us to thinkeverything is stolen or I don't want us
to have that feeling of we're notin control here and just because the candidate
lost, it was a cheat.We were cheated, and I'm hoping both
sides feel that way ahead of thiselection. Now. The reason I talk
about this again in a different waytoday is because of something that happened to

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a fairly high profile comedy duo inmusic named Tenacious D. Now. Tenacious
D is led by Jack Black,famous actor, and Kyle Gass, who
longtime partner of his and they've beendoing this Tenacious D stuff for a long
time. There's even a movie aboutit. You know. They're a funny
comedy duo. Guy guys with thebacking band. They worldwide tour. Well

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they had some thoughts about well notthey, but one of them said something
at a concert in Sydney, Australiaabout Donald Trump and this assassination attempt.
I will explain what that was andwhat the fallout is and if this is
the new normal for the way thatwe talk about stuff in politics. That's
on the way next on news radioeleven to ten Kfab, Emrie Sunger on

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news Radio eleven ten Kfab, there'sa comedy duo in music called Tenacious D.
If you're not familiar with them,Jack Black, who starred in one
of my favorite movies, School ofRock, notable for appearances in other films.
He was the voice of the KungFu Panda. He's in a lot

(07:12):
of stuff. He's in a Holidayis a little bit more of a rom
comy kind of film. But he'sa funny guy. I find Jack Black
and his is a demeanor to bepretty pretty funny. I did know.
I'm not super interested in their music, but he's in a band called Tenaciouste,
which really is him and his buddyKyle Gas, and they have been

(07:33):
doing this for years a long time. There's been shows, movies they've made,
and a lot of people go andsee them all over the world.
They were in Sydney, Australia onSunday, which of course is just a
day after the assassination attempt on formerPresident Trump, and a birthday cake was
presented to Kyle Gas because apparently itwas his birthday. And they told him,

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just like you would tell anybody else, make a wish as they blow
out the candles, and Jack Blacksaid, make a wish, and Kyle
Gass said don't miss Trump next time. And of course you hear the Sydney
Australia crowd again, this is acheap pop. This isn't like I don't
think Kyle Gass necessarily meant that,even though he probably hates Donald Trump,
if you would even insinuate to saysomething like that, this is this is

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a thing to say to get areaction to a listit a reaction and try
to make people either laugh or cringeor whatever. When you're an entertainer and
I've never tried stand up comedy,it's kind of something I'm fairly interested in
trying because it's so outside my comfortzone. But there's also this element of
knowing that, like I don't getto I don't get to see you as

(08:39):
you listen to me. So ifthere's something that I say that you know,
you say something back or you kindof react to, you smile at,
you cringe at, you laugh at. I don't know that you're doing
that. I kind of enjoy alive interaction. So you know, it's
something I've thought about but I've neverdone. And everything that I've like seen
in videos or classes about kind ofthat improv style comedy is you have to

(09:05):
be able to play to the crowd. So I think, as an entertainer
who's done this, a veteran entertainerwho's done it for years, like Kyle
Gass, who's been on stage witha guy that's super sharp, super quick
witted like Jack Black, he's gotto be on his toes at all time.
I don't think that he's a menaceto society. Because he said out
loud, please don't miss Trump nexttime. I think he was playing to
the crowd. However, you needto be held accountable for the things that

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you say, even if you don'tnecessarily mean them literally. And so I
was a little surprised at this,even though I knew that there was backlash.
I saw this on social media beforeanything happened. But Jack Black threw
on his Instagram today this morning,and I didn't believe that. I didn't
know what was going to happen,right, because most of these Hollywood types
are very liberal. I was justlike, Okay, they're going to try

(09:50):
to sweep this under the rug asmuch as possible kind of thing. And
apparently that's not what happened this morning. And an Instagram statement, Jack Black
said, I was blind by whatwas said at the show on Sunday.
I would never condone hate speech orencourage political violence in any form. After
much reflection, I no longer feelit is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D

(10:11):
tour and all future creative plans areon hold. I am grateful to the
fans for their support and understanding quote. And I have to say this real
gutsy out of a guy like JackBlack, who people probably feel like.
I mean, he's not completely exoneratedbecause this is in his band. It
does make the band look bad,But it wasn't him who said this,
but for him a couple of dayslater to say we're just canceling the rest

(10:35):
of the tour and I'm not surewhen the next time we're going to do
Tenacious D stuff, when this hasbeen a huge part of his identity,
if not the largest part of JackBlack's identity, what his connection is to
and the audience members who certainly werebuying tickets all over the place for this.
A five word sentence, don't missplease, don't miss Trump next time.
Don't miss Trump next time. That'swhat it was, don't miss Trump

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next time, just to get areaction out of an Australian crowd, it
was any in the US. Hesaid it to Australians, who I'm gonna
go ahead and guess even if theydisliked Trump, couldn't give to you know
what's about American politics and policies.They don't care. So what a dumb
thing to say, even in thatmoment, to that audience if you were
playing to a crowd. So JackBlack released that statement basically said, I'm

(11:18):
guessing over the last twenty four hoursthat has been the conversation Jack Black,
just like, I can't even faceyou right now. You've tarnished our brand
to an extent where I'm not comfortabledoing anything with Tenaciouste anymore. This could
absolutely destroy our careers and I wouldn'tcondone any of this, and I got
to distance myself from you for thetime being. I mean, that's a
pretty big thing for Jack Black todo, considering the circumstances. They're in

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the middle of a worldwide tour.Well, Kyle Gass did say something.
He jumped on Instagram as soon asJack Black's statement came out and said,
quote, the line I improvised Sundaynight in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous
and a terrible mistake. I don'tcondone violence in any kind, in any
form against anyone. What happened wasa tragedy, and I'm incredibly sorry for
my severe lack of judgment. Quote. So, I guess that's the end

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for the Today Syty tour and maybesome of the stuff they were working on.
But what I am going to sayabout it is this is the start
of I think us holding each otheraccountable for hate speech, for hate full
speech, and we have to dobetter. I'm okay. I don't like
cancel culture as a whole, butwhen somebody says something like this, I
think it is important, with ourtechnology, the fact that somebody was filming

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this, that we hold people accountablefor saying bad things. I don't think
that's necessarily wrong. We should bethinking about what we're saying and how we're
feeling before we just spit it outthere, creating a bigger issue than there
already was. That's my opinion,and obviously it's one that seems to be
shared with Jack Black, who abruptlycanceled the rest of this band's tour because
of what his bandmates said. Fourh two, five, five, eight

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eleven ten is the number if youwant to call in. We got plenty
more to talk about. JD Vanceand I also want to touch on Bob
Menindez and his guilty verdict and whatthat could mean, not for him,
but for the way that we perceivethe people that are serving us in Congress.
That's next on News Radio eleven toten Kfab Emery's songer on News Radio
eleven. Ten Kfab taking note ofTenacious D, specifically a comedy rock band

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led by Jack Black, but hispartner Kyle Gass, said something along the
lines of I wish you know,but don't miss Trump next time or whatever,
and Jack Black basically said today onhis Instagram, We're canceling the rest
of our tour. I don't feelcomfortable in the way that that went or
how that was said. And isthat where we are now? Are we
really holding each other accountable for theway that we talk about this stuff?

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Following's open four, two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten,
and Mike's there. Mike, appreciatethe call today. You have something
that kind of reminds you of Yeah, I just was thinking about the Dixie
Chicks back in the day when theywere went on their European tour and not
George Bush, and they knocked theirtheir audience right out of left field.

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You know, people quitn't listening tohim. They were driving over the CDs
with rollers, you know. Yeah, stations drop them like, you know,
like they were just worse saying andthey kind of made it come back
in the last decade or so kindof yeah, but I mean, you
don't I don't listen to the NewCountry I don't care for it. But
on the older Country stations you prettymuch don't hear them just once in a

(14:16):
great while. And they had alot of hits back before they made her,
before she you know, went mouthsoff against Blush. Yeah, and
I think, Mike, this isa good point, right, And this
goes back to like bud Light.You remember bud Light last year and the
transgender thing and how damaging that wasto their brand. There's just no need,
you know what I'm saying. Andthis is why I like, I

(14:37):
don't know if Taylor Swift, thisis an interesting one. I don't know
if Taylor Swift's gonna endorse anybody.She did endorse, you know, Biden
in twenty twenty, but she wasnot the kind of power of influence as
she is right now. She's beenso quiet about this, she hasn't said
a word. I feel like sheand and maybe other celebrities, not like
a clooney type that's been long time, long term connected to a specific party,

(15:01):
but like the idea of celebrities kindof taking a back seat and not
getting too involved in the political rhetorichere because it just fires people up,
good or bad. You become apolarizing individual as soon as you say something
like this. Maybe this is thelesson, Like the Dixie Chicks or the
Chicks as we know them now hadto learn the hard way, and people

(15:22):
are seeing you know what, maybeit's not worth me saying that because nothing
good came for us out of mesaying that. Only bad things happened by
me saying that. You know whatI mean, Well, they definitely don't
do it overseas. I don't rememberwho said it. You know, back
then they said there's a quota aback, you don't go bad mouth your country
when you're overseas. And you know, Jack Black, I'm impressed he made

(15:46):
that statement. You know, whetherhim and his partner were sitting in the
same room on Instagram, is justyou know, saying, Okay, I'm
going to say this, then you'regoing to apologize, and we'll see if
we can smooth the waters and keepgoing. You know, let's settle for
a month or whatever. But Iam impressed that he tried to make amends.
You know, firstly, I TaylorSwift. I don't like her anyhow,

(16:07):
But I could really care less whocelebrities indoors. I don't have put
any any worth and what right,but it could But but Mike, I
guess the point is it could damagehow people see them when they start really
attaching them with political rhetoric. Allof a sudden, I don't know if
I can listen to this person anymore. I know what their politics are well,
and I am that way, Idon't. It's not so much to

(16:30):
listen to it, it's who Ichoose for my money to go towards,
you know, whether it's a producti'd buy or song I listen to.
You know, movie I watched,well, the My Pillow Guy. The
My Pillow Guy has made a killingdoing this, right, He's just made
his politics known and there are alot of people that probably would never have
thought about his product except for thefact that they know they agree with him

(16:51):
on most political situations. Well,Walmart draped. He got dropped by a
lot of corporations that refused to carryhis products anymore too. Yeah, but
it works both ways. It's agood point. That's a good point,
Mike. Once you kind of getinto that to that lane, you kind
of just have to own that laneif you're going to be successful. And
he's done a good job of it. But this is a great point,
though, Mike, and I appreciateyou calling in, man, thanks so

(17:12):
much for listening. Uh. Yeah, there's there's absolutely no doubt what Mike
is saying is true. That youknow, there's it's a double edge stored
in a lot of ways. AndI'm appreciative of anybody who decides that they
feel like they need to say something. I'm kind of in a spot where
I kind of have to talk aboutmy political beliefs and the way that I

(17:33):
see the world. I wouldn't starta conversation with a new person that way.
I wouldn't go on like I lovemy wife. My wife and I
I don't know if we agree toomuch on politics. We don't talk about
politics all that much, but it'sjust not important for us like I don't.
I don't need to know somebody's politicsto like them or dislike them.
But once you tell me your politicsvoluntarily, that kind of tells me where
you're at. And I think partof why this rhetoric has is amped up.

(17:57):
And we got a good email herefrom said Biden did that interview with
Lester Holt and clarified the target onTrump, the bullseye comment that we talked
about yesterday, But in the sameinterview he also said, I'm also not
the one that said I want tobe a dictator on day one. You
got to be careful about the wayyou say that, because that's the exact
kind of worded verbiage, the wordingterminology that has gotten people riled up that

(18:22):
Donald Trump is a threat to ourdemocracy or constitutional republic. If you want
to be one hundred percent accurate,that's I mean, you can't play both
the sides of that aisle. Yougot to be very careful if you really
want to tone it down. Again. We have that phone call that RFK
and Donald Trump had where they're justtalking like dudes, and Trump is talking
about how nice the call was thatBiden called him, and all that stuff,
and like, I'm down with it. I'm hearing it because even though

(18:47):
it's some nasty work that that leakedout and it's a complete invasion of privacy,
but hopefully stuff like that makes theseguys seem like real people are.
We have dehumanized politicians to a pointwhere they're more than the regular man or
woman. They're just there. They'rea level above all of us, and
that makes us all kind of thepeons. And that's not a good that's
not a good thing. It's nota good thing to feel like you're completely

(19:11):
outside of the big bubble of allthe important people and they're talking down at
you and speaking about the rhetoric betweenthe two sides and how dangerous that could
be. We don't need that kindof dehumanization. But we also need to
understand if you're gonna lead with politicsis like the most important thing to you,
and that's a huge part of yourown personal identity. You're gonna care
a lot about that. You're predisposedto care a lot about that. Whether

(19:34):
or not you're on the edge ofcommitting violent crimes is a completely different conversation.
But the political rhetoric is really speakingto the people who politics is the
most important part of their life.I will be upfront with you. I
pay very close attention to it.It's part of my job. It is
not the most important part of mylife, and I don't want it to
be. I don't want my lifeto to feel like every like I'm gonna

(19:55):
be active in elections, but I'mnot gonna feel like my life depends on
elections going exactly the way I wantthem to every single election cycle. That's
just it's not healthy. My parents, my grandparents, no matter what their
political beliefs were, their favorite people, didn't win every single election, and
they still lived very fruitful lives.It can be done. They made as
good of a world that they couldfor themselves, their children and the people

(20:21):
around them. And I'm sure yourparents, your grandparents, your relatives,
you are also making the best ofthe world around you as well, even
if things are going the way thatyou would love them to go. It's
a relatable thing. I do notsee it as life and death in the
same way that the main politicians havebeen talking to each other the last couple

(20:41):
of election cycles, and that Ithink is what has driven people to realize
we are going a little too farhere Again, Greg makes a good point.
They also are trying to win elections, and both sides have been successful
in trying to fear monger people tovoting for their side by saying the other
side is going to do this,that, and the other thing, and
you've got to be afraid of that. Right now, the conversation surrounds Donald

(21:02):
Trump in Project twenty twenty five andhow dangerous all those talking points in political
platforms are. And Donald Trump issaying, you know, we're not a
safe America with the left being incharge. We're gonna have illegal immigrants pouring
over the border for the next fouryears at least, and if he wins
this election, and it's going tobe devastating for America on a multitude of
fronts. Those are the conversations thatare being had by these people. That

(21:26):
gets people to be afraid of whatthe other side may do, and based
on whichever side they fall, they'regoing to go and vote against the other
guy more so than they're going tovote for their guy. That doesn't count
everybody, but there are people thatare like that. That's the kind of
thing. I hope we just calmeddown a little bit. But they have
to start it, and if theydon't start it, it'll never happen in
America. I'll wrap up the shownext on news radio eleven to ten kfab
Even sweater Man Fetterman went out ofhis way to make it his point,

(21:49):
saying he needs to resign a lotof rumors about this guy taking bribes for
a bunch of financial monetary real goodsessentially. And I guess my perspective on
the guilt Deeplea is like, Okay, so if Bob Menindez did this,
and he was kind of notorious,this is kind of circuling around him.

(22:11):
His days certainly at the very leastare numbered for serving New Jersey. But
there's got to be other guys inthere. There can't just be the one
guy, the guys in gals inCongress. There's got to be more of
them that have taken stuff from foreigngovernments for interests essentially in what they're looking

(22:32):
for, and that should be wrong, that should be completely illegal and should
be found out. And my onlyhope for Bob Menendez is maybe he can
be like jose Canseco and be abit of a whistleblower on some other people
so we can kind of clean thatswamp up like we've been begging for for
the last eight years, am Iright? I guess only time is going

(22:52):
to tell on that