Less than a week after a Ted Nugent concert was announced in Birmingham, Alabama, its promoter canceled it following intense outcry, according to AL.com. The musician may have scored hits like “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Free-for-All” in the Seventies, but his criticism of school-shooting victims advocating for gun safety, contempt for animal rights, birtherism, and racist comments like calling Obama a “subhuman mongrel” (for which he apologized) have turned public opinion against him.
Nugent was to play the city’s Avondale Brewing Co. on July 18, with tickets going on sale Friday, but the announcement prompted Facebook and Instagram users to leave more a thousand comments between the two platforms expressing their distaste for Nugent. They accused the musician of hating women, gay people, and trans people, and AL.com reports fans threatened to stop patronizing Avondale Brewing. The brewer and promoter, Red Mountain Entertainment, pulled the plug on Thursday afternoon before tickets went on sale.
People wrote missives like “Lose this show or lose my business,” “To bring this transphobic individual into our diverse neighborhood is a travesty,” and “Ted Nugent spews lies and hatred and you are giving him a platform” as comments on since-deleted posts, the news site reported.
“We have heard the concerns of the Avondale community, which is so important to us,” the venue wrote in its Instagram story, “and in conjunction with our partners, have taken the necessary steps to cancel the Ted Nugent concert scheduled for July 18.”
Nugent commented on the cancellation on his Facebook page by posting the AL.com article and writing, punctuation errors and all: “Liars & haters drunk on stupid incapable to debate me.”
The date was to be part of what Nugent has promised would be his last tour, dubbed “Adios MOFO ’23: The Final Tour.” For many, the tour’s conclusion can’t come fast enough.
Nugent has long supported the National Rifle Association, even in the wakes of multiple mass shootings. He has made fun of trans people. He has called Black Lives Matter a “terrorist organization.” He has dissuaded his fans from getting the life-saving Covid vaccines, calling the virus a hoax – before eventually contracting it himself. He has compared President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler, and has exclaimed that Obama should “suck on my machine gun.” Nugent has also been a vocal advocate for Donald Trump and even visited the president in the White House.