Concerts are canceled for a variety of reasons.
Ticket sales might be sagging, like those of Jennifer Lopez’s recent “This Is Me… Now” tour. No superstar wants to perform to a sea of velvet.
Or an untimely illness could befall the singer, as happened when Celine Dion was diagnosed with the rare neurological disorder Stiff Person Syndrome.
Adele’s Las Vegas residency was initially — and dramatically — delayed for a few months due to artistic issues.
Far less common is an entire, multicity, international tour being axed due to a single ugly remark.
But that’s what went down this week when Tenacious D band member Kyle Gass made a vile joke about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Jack Black presented Gass with a birthday cake onstage during a gig in Sydney and asked his friend to “make a wish.”
Cute. What could possibly be scandalous about Dewey from “School of Rock” delivering a baked dessert during what was dubbed “The Spicy Meatball Tour”?
Well, one day after a shooter’s bullet nearly hit the ex-president in the head, Gass responded, in a moment that was recorded on video, “Don’t miss Trump next time.”
Beyond disgusting.
There was no coming back from such a putrid comment. And therefore the band’s frontman, comedian and movie star Black, nixed the remainder of their dates three days later.
Black elaborated on Instagram that “I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form” and added that the group’s “creative plans are on hold.”
It was a professional life-or-death decision.
Although Black neither uttered the crack nor endorsed his bandmate’s horrid gag (Gass also apologized), his proximity to the event posed an existential threat to his heretofore ironclad image in Hollywood — as that of the lovable schlub.
The good guy. We just like Jack Black.
He’s the one who Kate Winslet should date in “The Holiday.” He’s the manchild who helps a group of school outcasts find their voice through rock ’n’ roll. He’s the Kung Fu Panda, for God’s sake.
Even when Black voiced evil Bowser in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, the reptillian character sang a hilarious ballad called “Peaches” at the piano. He was a Bowser you could bring home to mom.
Black is smiles and fun and relatability. Not calls for bloodshed.
And, yes, it’s true that he’s no Dolly Parton — Black is active in politics. The actor is vocally anti-Trump, and even spoke at the now-infamous Joe Biden fundraiser thrown in Los Angeles by George Clooney. Ya know, the one where Clooney had a lightbulb moment in which he realized that the president is, in fact, old.
However, the political way is hardly central to Black’s identity in the way that is for, say, Robert De Niro or Barbra Streisand. His fans are widespread, diverse and, I reckon, indifferent to his opinions.
Their trust and affection has been put into jeopardy, though, by a man Black has collaborated with for 30 years wishing out loud that Donald Trump had been killed; making light of an event in which one innocent bystander was murdered.
This is why Black’s behaving as though he’s been canceled for a quip he didn’t even make. Controversy is not on-brand for Jack Black.
And, he surely hopes, there’s plenty of time for the blacklash to die down before “The Super Mario Bros.” sequel hits theaters in 2026.
