Nugent Scratched for Racial Remarks

Racial remarks have cost controversial rocker Ted Nugent his gig on Muskegon Summer Celebration's "family venue" stage.

Summer Celebration president Joe Austin announced today that festival officials canceled Nugent's concert due to an interview last week on a Denver radio station in which the rocker used racial slurs, including the "n word," to describe African-Americans and another slur to refers to Asians.

Summer Celebration are scrambling to find a replacement, Austin said. The festival's all-concert ticket-sale kickoff event is tonight.

"If we can (replace Nugent) with something in the classic rock genre, that'd be great, but right now we want to get the best possible acts we can find," he said.

After discussions with a "wide range" of community leaders, Summer Celebration's board of trustees decided "it was in the best interest of the community" to drop Nugent from this year's festival lineup, Austin said. He wouldn't name the community leaders.

Festival Chairman Tim Achterhoff said: "Any use of potentially offensive racial terms, such as those attributed recently to Ted Nugent, do not reflect the spirit of Muskegon or the Summer Celebration." Summer Celebration bills itself a "family venue festival."

Austin added, "Muskegon is a diverse community -- that's the strength of our community."

This is the first time in Summer Celebration's 11-year history that the festival has canceled a concert. Dropped concerts in the past have all been canceled by the artists.

Reached by phone Thursday evening, Nugent's assistant, Linda Peterson, said Nugent was out of town, and said she "didn't have details on the situation" and couldn't comment.

Nugent is known as the "Motor City Madman," and is known for controversial, profanity-laced political statements on and off stage. Last week, an interview with Nugent on Denver radio station "Lewis & Floorwax" morning show was cut short because the show's hosts, Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, said Nugent went too far when he used several racial slurs.

The interview focused on guitars until Nugent used the word "Jap," to which Lewis and Floorwax immediately protested, the Associated Press reported. Nugent then used another Asian slur and the DJs called him on that.

Nugent next used the "n word" when talking about comedian Richard Pryor's humor and said that, years ago, one of the Funk Brothers used the term to compliment Nugent's guitar playing.

In a written statement, Nugent blamed much of the controversy surrounding the radio station interview on reports by "liberal hippies in the media."

Lois Williams, president of the Muskegon Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said canceling the concert "was in the best interest of this community."

"Muskegon Summer Celebration, for the past 10 years, has built a solid reputation as a family affair -- and we don't need the likes of Ted Nugent coming to Muskegon, and we certainly don't need it at Summer Celebration," Williams said.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington said he thought the cancellation of the concert "was the right decision."

"This event has grown and evolved into a great event over 11 years," Warmington said, "and I just thought it didn't make any sense to bring in an act that would be controversial and that could perhaps take 11 years of great work and great celebration and have it marred."

Austin said Summer Celebration has not lost money on the canceled concert because "we were at a point where money had not exchanged hands." He said he knows of no lawsuit filed against the festival "yet."

Kinda unfair to post this without posting Ted's response...(paragraphs mine)

Let’s get one thing straight first and foremost: I dedicated my last record, Craveman, to Rosa Parks, the Civil Rights pioneer. I did that because she is one of only a couple of heroes that I have ever had.

A bit of advice- Never take too much serious that you hear on any FM morning radio show & be sure to hav your sense of humor plugged in. The sole purpose of these programs is to entertain you with often over-the-top, irreverent, shock humor, the king of which is Howard Stern, right behind me. If you want serious radio, turn the dial to the AM channel.

Because of my very public pro-hunting and pro-gun lifestyle, I have been the butt of many jokes on these FM radio programs across the country. Instead of becoming upset, I laugh hysterically, much like I did when Saturday Night Live made fun of my hunting lifestyle in a widely entertaining parody. Only an uptight, politically correct idiot would get upset over a SNL skit.

Recently, on one of the world’s best and certainly funniest morning radio shows, the FOX’s Lewis & Floorwax morning show in Denver, I made the comment that you can’t play real, authentic, soulful, toneful blues on a Jap guitar. My use of the word “Jap” has obviously upset some people. Get over it. British people are commonly refereed to as Brits. Swedish people are known as Swedes. Americans are Yanks, even damn Yanks.

I then went on to quote by name, my favorite record of all time, Richard Pryor’s “That Niggers Crazy!” Tho funny as hell, I was dead serious. I then stated that the best name ever for a band was Niggas With Attitude. I meant that, too. I then shared a wonderful story from my rock-n-roll youth in Detroit (live in person on Bob & Tom radio to tens of millions on my new DVD) when my band the Lourdes won the Michigan Battle of the Bands in 1963, and was rewarded with the privilege of performing on the same Cobo Hall stage with the gods of R&B, the mighty Funk Brothers of Motown.

In one of the most moving experiences in my musical career, the biggest, baddest Funk Brother of all sashayed over to me and my band, put his strong black, genius hand on my trembling white shoulder, looked down upon me, and stated, “Boy, you keeps playin guitar like dat, youz gonna be a nigger when youz grows up.” I shook in awe and reverence, and stuttered, “Thank you sir.” I meant that, too.

For these amazingly simple statements of humor, respect and honesty, I have been attacked as a racist. Let me tell you what’s going on here. People hate me because I’m so damn effective at getting across my pro-gun, pro-hunting and pro-American statements. Forever, liberal hippies in the media have manufactured all sorts of hateful misrepresentations about me and about what I say and stand for.

They are helpless to take me on intellectually, one on one, so they extract convenient edited phrases out of context and put their own negativ, hateful left spin on them. They should be ashamed of themselves. But they will not be, for one would need a soul or semblance of conscience to do so, and in this cultural war to demonize all that I am & represent, they are hellbent to compromise the NRA Board of Director and America’s #1 Bambi killer.

It is the height of agenda driven, overtly biased unprofessionalism. It’s pathetic. I refuse to cow down to the Pol Pott politics of vicious personal attacks that the politically correct, left-wing, anti-freedom idiots wish to shove down our collective throats. It is pathetic to even have to address this issue, but I have long been a lightening rod for idiots. Anyone who has done but a modicum of research about me knows that I possess an irreverent, outrageous and deeply bouyant sense of humor. Moreover, throughout my 40 year career in the media, I have constantly praised the long list of black musical influences that shaped me as a young musician and continue to inspire me today. Furthermore, I have hired blacks and Mexicans to play in my band. Yet I’m a racist?

I’ll admit I’m a racist when you admit that one plus one equals seventeen. Shock and awe that. If you’re waiting for an apology, I suggest you pack a lunch.

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