During an appearance at a Tea Party event in Wyoming, National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent used the derogatory term “Japs” while discussing how he believes America has changed since World War II.
Nugent, who is also a spokesman for Outdoor Channel, appeared alongside birther and former Fox News contributor Maj. Gen. (ret.) Paul Vallely at an August 2 rally hosted by the Big Horn Basin Tea Party. At the end of the event, Nugent and Vallely were deputized by the local sheriff.
During his remarks Nugent described his belief that the government has “turned on us” since the United States defeated the “Japs and Nazis” in World War II, citing his claim of “ranchers being arrested because of gerbils on their range.” The term “Jap” is universally recognized as a racial slur since its derogatory usage during World War II.
NUGENT: I know I'm speaking your language. I know nothing I've said surprises you except maybe the insane depth of this self-inflicted curse of apathy. We have bent over since World War II because we couldn't believe that good -- the universally celebrated good of America crushed the universally understood evil of Japs and Nazis. We couldn't believe that that government that represented us in good over evil could possibly turn on us. They've turned on us. They've literally turned on us, ranchers being arrested because of gerbils on their range or some families arrested because the EPA claims they are building a barn on a wetland where for 200 years of satellite documentation, no moisture.
During his half-hour presentation, Nugent made other inflammatory comments.
Referencing the sacrifices of U.S. soldiers during war, Nugent claimed that soldiers' “buddies came home in bags because the president violates his oath on an hourly basis.”
Nugent also told the crowd that men married to women who do not support hunting should either “fix her or replace her.”
Returning to his usual attacks on elected Democrats, Nugent called Attorney General Eric Holder a “racist” and a “felon,” called for the arrest of Holder and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and said that Obama “doesn't have the credentials to drive my tour bus”
Nugent has recently faced controversy after two American Indian tribes cancelled upcoming Nugent concerts, citing the NRA board member's history of racially inflammatory commentary.