After a planned Aug. 4 concert at Idaho’s Coueur D’Alene Casino was canceled over his “racist views,” Ted Nugent is firing back at his “haters.”
The conservative rocker says his vehement support of the Second Amendment is behind the cancellation, not his alleged racism.
Ted Nugent Show Canceled by Indian Tribe Over ‘Racist Views’
“They literally have an army assigned to destroy Ted Nugent,” Nugent told Radio.com. “To call me a racist is a clear act of desperation. Because everybody knows I’m not a racist! My [former] bass player Johnny Gunnel happens to be a black guy. My [former] bass player Marco Mendoza was born in Mexico! Are you kiddin’ me? I pay tribute to Martin Luther King in my songs, I’ve always said my music is a direct result of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, and all the black musical heroes of my life.”
While the casino didn’t cite any specific racist views, Nugent referred to President Obama as a “subhuman mongrel” earlier this year, later apologizing for the comments. But Nugent is certain that his left-wing detractors are to blame here.
“These sick, sick, stoned, hygiene-challenged Michael Moore fans, they call in and complain that I’m a racist, they claim I’m a pedophile, that I dodged the draft,” he said. “They call all the promoters, they call all the venues, they call all my sponsors, every day. Meanwhile, what am I doing? I’m going to rock my ass off tonight. And tomorrow night. And the next night. I’m having the greatest tour of my life and I’m going to have — I promise you — the greatest hunting season of my life. So I have created the abject fear in the left of how effective I am.”
The casino, for its part, is offering refunds for Nugent ticket-holders, further explaining in a Facebook post their reasoning behind the cancellation. “We adamantly do not want our casino to be used as a venue for the racist attitudes and views that Ted Nugent espouses,” the statement reads. “Unfortunately, when we booked him, we were looking at him from an entertainment perspective, as an 80s rock ‘n roller who we thought folks might enjoy.”