Australian Politician Calls for Deportation of Tenacious D After Trump Shooting Comment

Kyle Gass (L) and Jack Black of Tenacious D.

Jeff Hahne/Getty Images

An Australian politician has called for the comedy rock band Tenacious D, comprising Jack Black and Kyle Gass, to be deported from the country after a comment a band member made about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

On Sunday, in footage widely shared on social media, Tenacious D were on stage in Sydney, when Black and a ‘robot’ presented Gass with birthday cake. In the clips, Black is heard saying, “Make a wish” to Gass, who before blowing out the candles says, “Don’t miss Trump next time” to laughter and applause from the Sydney crowd.

Senator Ralph Babet, leader of the United Australia Party, took to social media on Monday night to demand that Tenacious D be deported for the bad taste joke. In a media release, Babet claimed Glass’ comments were not a joke, and he called on Australia’s immigration minister Andrew Giles to “revoke their visas.”

Babet added, “Anything less than a deportation is an endorsement of the shooting and the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump.”

Tenacious D still have four dates left of the Australian leg of their tour, including shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Babet has previously decried censorship. In February, the senator was in the middle of a political firestorm in Australia for re-sharing graphic clips from a stabbing incident, which the Australian government had ordered X, formerly Twitter, to take down due to the violent and distressing nature of the footage.

After the Australian courts had reaffirmed an injunction against posting clips of the stabbing, a defiant Babet tweeted out the graphic footage to his X account twice. “Without free speech our nation will fall,” he later tweeted.