National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent hyped his August 8 appearance at The Toledo Blade's food and music festival by attacking the “stinkyass unclean dipshit protestors” that attended a rally organized by an American Indian group at his August 6 concert.
Nugent's summer tour schedule has been filled with controversy, protests, and cancellations. At least four concerts have been cancelled because of Nugent's history of racially inflammatory commentary, while activists -- representing both American Indian and progressive groups -- have staged protests at other concerts. American Indian groups became involved in protesting Nugent after two American Indian tribes cancelled Nugent concerts scheduled at their casinos after learning of Nugent's past comments and appropriation of American Indian headdresses during concerts.
In April, The Toledo Blade announced that Nugent would perform at the paper's four-day “Rib-Off” food and music festival in August. At the time, employees of The Blade told Media Matters investigative reporter Joe Strupp that the paper was receiving “quite a few” calls from angry readers and that the paper would “think long and hard about inviting him next year.” Controversy over The Blade's invitation to Nugent spurred gun violence prevention group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to launch a petition calling for the concert's cancellation. On July 27, The Blade's owner sent a letter to the editor where he declined to cancel Nugent's appearance but apologized for the invitation and wrote he would “not support inviting him again.”
On August 7, Nugent took to his Facebook page to hype his “Rib-Off” appearance, but also to argue that American Indians upset about land being taken from them by white settlers need to learn about the American Dream.
Nugent wrote, “WE ARE ON OUR JET NOW HEADING FOR TOLEDO RIBFEST JAM AFTER AN INSANE INCREDIBLE OUT OF BODY ULTRAROCKOUT at the Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis SD! Simply astonishing gig! 4 stinkyass unclean dipshit protestors that admitted they hate me AND ALL WHITE PEOPLE THAT STOLE THEIR LAND BULLSHIT!! See, it aint me they hate, they hate all Americans that produce & live the American Dream. Simply insane!”
The protestors that Nugent attacked as “stinkyass unclean dipshit[s]” were reportedly from the United Urban Warrior Society in Rapid City, SD.
Nugent made other inflammatory comments in the discussion thread on his Facebook post. One fan wrote that “Maybe the natives shoulda had better weapons ...” to which Nugent responded, “less peyote less whoopin & hollerin.”
To another fan complaining about the "'Mexican' population," Nugent responded, “poor communication challenged liability babys.”
Despite outrage in the American Indian community against Nugent, he insists that he is not a racist and that American Indians are his "BloodBrothers."