04.10.14
Canned Tongue of Bigot: Ol’ Steel Knees describes himself
From Ted Nugent’s column at World Net Daily, today:
As the November election looms, the Democratic political hit machine and RINOs will do their best to malign the tea party as racists, bigots, homophobes, jingoists, anti-government zealots who are composed of Timothy McVeigh-types.
Meanwhile, there is a gathering storm of Americans who are raising their political pitchforks and don’t even know what the tea party is or what it believes …
These Americans are mad as hell and they aren’t going to take this anymore. No amount of spinning, bobbing and weaving, or smoke-and-mirrors political tricks are going keep these frustrated Americans from the polls.
A political storm is brewing. Good. It’s about time.
Old Steel Knees is WhiteManistan’s most popular and public bigot and, unconsciously, he describes himself very well.
But sometimes he’s too much for parts of it, even in Texas.
A couple of weeks ago the town of Longview canceled a Nugent show scheduled for the 4th of July. To do it they had to eat 16 thousand dollars, paying off Nugent not to show.
And this is because Nugent has a history of suing venues that drop him for shooting off his mouth. One you begin making open negotiations with the devil, you’re on the hook. (More on this a little further on.)
From the Dallas Morning News, in late March:
The city of Longview paid $16,250 to end contract negotiations with controversial rocker Ted Nugent, who was under consideration as the headliner for its Fourth of July celebration in East Texas.
Longview’s payoff last month came after Nugent’s earlier comments and song lyrics became an issue during a campaign swing with Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott.
In January, Nugent called President Barack Obama a “subhuman mongrel??? …
City spokesman Shawn Hara said the controversy surrounding Nugent was just one factor that led the city to call off negotiations. The amount paid was about half Nugent’s performance fee.
There were “a variety of reasons: cost, structure, is it the right musical act for this type of event — a city-sponsored, family-oriented overall event,??? he said. “They decided no, we don’t want to move forward, it is not the right act for this. At that point we decided to end discussions.???
Mayor Jay Dean said Nugent’s act didn’t fit with the family-oriented program the city wanted.
Nugent promptly exploded, this in addition to chiseling the town out of 16 thousand:
If city officials are saying Ted Nugent’s shows are not family friendly, the rocker said Tuesday, “Somebody has bamboozled the good citizens of Longview.???
“The lie that my concerts are inappropriate for any city anywhere is absurd,??? Nugent said in an email response to questions. “My family friendly concerts are legendary and will continue to be all summer long in 2014.???
“Those that hate me are following the Saul Alinsky playbook on how to dismantle, fundamentally transform the greatest nation and quality of life the world has ever known,??? he said. “Those that hate me hate America, plain and simple.???
Nugent did not respond Tuesday to questions about published comments he made last week that Longview Mayor Jay Dean is racist and dishonest.
“I hear from reliable sources that the mayor is a racist and was offended that my band performs mostly African-American-influenced music,??? Nugent was quoted as saying in a column that appeared Saturday in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Everyone knows ol’ Uncle Ted is the ultimate Independence Day rockout with the ultimate all-American, soul music, rockin’ soundtrack of defiance, liberty and freedom. We shall carry on. We are the good guys. Clueless, dishonest people like the mayor are the bad guys.???
This week Longview was able to cover Nugent’s hostage fee with a donation drive:
A fundraising group led by Mayor Jay Dean has recouped the $16,250 the city paid to end negotiations with rocker Ted Nugent as a potential headliner for Longview’s Independence Day show …
City officials have said they pulled the plug after learning of the talks in March, a few weeks after Nugent was drawing increasingly negative attention for comments he made about the president and his own background.
To get out of negotiations with Nugent’s booking agency, the city had to pay a portion of his contract fee — $16,250 …
On Wednesday, [a Longview representative] said numerous companies including Longview Regional Medical Center and Good Shepherd Medical Center, as well as many individuals, had contributed to the effort.
Readers get a good horselaugh from Nugent describing himself as a family-oriented act. YouTube is rife with video of Steel Knees, on television and on tour, using profanity to condemn his enemies from the president to random women producers on network television.
From this blog’s unrivaled archives (the originals may be gone at America’s dailies, but we keep ’em:)
Ted Nugent’s appearance at the Benton Franklin fair in Kennewick, WA, [in the summer of 2010] brought on fear and loathing in the locals. Shocked, they were just shocked — by Ted’s foul language, heard for miles around, courtesy of the rock ‘n’ roll megawatt PA …
Here are some excerpts from the letters page at the Kennewick paper (note the absence of what generally shouts his obscenities in connection with — the president, other Dem politicians — it’s just the profanity they noticed):
“What rock did they find Ted Nugent under? I am very angry at the choice of words used during his concert. I understand that Ted Nugent is like this — but at a fair with children?”
“I have never been so astonished and mad as I was on the evening of Aug. 26 when my wife and I attended the Benton Franklin County Fair.
“Ted Nugent was performing (?) onstage, cursing, shouting obcenities [sic], screaming at the top of his voice, etc. All while in the presence of many young children.
“This is an insult to our society … ”
And, delightfully, here.
Oooh, still more, from 2011 (excerpting from media coverage):
From a Peoria newspaper: “When [Ted Nugent] shares his political views? That’s entertaining, too, in a borderline frightening way.
“He railed on government in general and the president in particular. He invited his audience to storm down to Springfield and take it over. Right after an f-bomb-laced barrage, he remarked that it was nice to see children in the audience …”
From a Niagara Falls newspaper: “Nugent is ranting at a furious pace, cramming in more obscenities in three minutes than a roomful of cursing sailors, and undoubtedly saying something shockingly funny, or just shocking.
“On Tuesday, many of Nugent’s rants were directed at Canadian visitors. Standing in front of a huge backdrop of the Stars and Stripes, Nugent invited Canadian visitors to “taste freedom.??? Nugent later quipped, “I love you Canadians, it’s your government that is (fucked) up.??? I am paraphrasing of course, but you get the picture.”
Steel Knees has something of an encapsulated mentally ill mind. The part of his brain that believes himself a family-oriented entertainer is completely isolated from that part that spews curses every four or five words. One begins to wonder if he even hears himself or if part of his cognitive function edits out the f-bombs somewhere in the tangle of ganglia between and behind the mouth and ears.
As for suing people who drop him for being ugly in public, one of the most famous cases, well prior to Nugent’s American fame as a public bigot, came in Michigan in 2003.
Again, from the unsurpassed archives of this blog:
In mid 2003 Nugent had a big gig lined up at the Muskegon Summer Celebration in Michigan. He then went on a radio show in Denver to do his inimitably Ted thing. The radio hosts pulled the plug on him.
The result — Nugent summarily dropped by the concert. Billboard, at the time:
“Derogatory racial remarks made by veteran rocker Ted Nugent have cost him a gig at the Muskegon Summer Celebration. Festival officials canceled his concert following an interview last week with two Denver disc jockeys in which the DJs said he used slurs for Asians and blacks.???
Three months later Nugent sued the Muskegon concert officials for defamation. In his complaint, it was linked to a tortured argument about violation of his 14th Amendment rights and breach of contract, which had deprived him of an $80,000 guarantee.
The Billboard image/article is here in a parcel of articles and comes from the case files entered by Nugent’s legal team. (DD has more and may get to them in a future post.)
The lawsuit became a celebrity trial in Michigan during the course of which Nugent’s defamation claim was tossed out. Nugent eventually took the stand, saying the DJs had misinterpreted his use of the n-word in a conversation. Nugent said he had related a story about how an African American had told him, after watching him in performance: “If you keep playing … like that, you’re going to be an ‘n word’ when you grow up.???
Whether this was all Nugent said during the course of the radio appearance was not determined. No tape of it existed, apparently.
“Unmentioned at the trial were news accounts of Nugent’s use of the other [derogatory] words [for Asians],??? reported the Muskegon Chronicle in 2005.
Nugent was successful in his breach of contract suit with the Muskegon festival and was eventually paid his guarantee.
Internet technology has improved some things. Because of it Ted Nugent will never again be able to mount a defamation suit against anyone.
Media Matters notes The Toledo Blade newspaper showing regret over booking Ted Nugent this summer:
The director of a summer event sponsored by the The Blade of Toledo, OH, says the scheduled appearance of Ted Nugent is sparking a backlash from members of the community who take issue with the conservative commentator and musician’s virulent commentary.
“All things being equal I wouldn’t bring in a guy who is aggravating people, that is not my intention,” said Mike Mori, The Blade’s sales director, who is also event director for the Northwest Ohio Rib-Off, a four-day food and music event the newspaper has been running for four years. “It seems like this thing has kind of ballooned in the last couple months. I will probably think long and hard about inviting him next year.”
But Mori told Media Matters if he cancels Nugent’s appearance this year, he still has to pay him the full fee, which he declined to reveal but said is more than $50,000.
“I have to pay him that even if it rains,” Mori said. “I wish the guy would just not say the things he does, he brings a big audience, he’s from Michigan, he packs the place. If everyone hated him, nobody would come. He does have a following, it’s a tough situation. I try to have a diverse type of a line-up.”