Ted Nugent says that he recently lost a major sponsor of his award-winning “Spirit Of The Wild” television show over accusations of racism.
The outspoken conservative rocker, who has previously referred to then-U.S. president Barack Obama as a “subhuman mongrel,” discussed the alleged attempt at “canceling” his program during the latest episode of his “Spirit Campfire” Internet video show.
He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Just last week… I’m not gonna name names right now, because the people that supported me are a segment of a huge global corporation. And they were a sponsor on our ‘Spirit Of The Wild’ show, that helped finance ‘Spirit Of The Wild’ and put it on the Outdoor Channel and promote conservation. And the mothership called the sponsor company and said, ‘You can’t sponsor Nugent. He’s a racist.’ And my people who had the sponsorship, they go, ‘What are you talking about? He’s not a racist. He’s probably the biggest promoter of black artists in the history of the spoken word.’ [And the parent company said,] ‘He’s a racist. We’re canceling [our sponsorship].’ And I’ve gotta tell you, we’re talking many six figures. And I can’t get on the Outdoor Channel without sponsors.”
Ted continued: “But here’s the beauty: as soon as those lying, hateful, leftist, intolerant punks canceled me, a guy from Big Time, a company Big Time out of Illinois, provided the sponsorship for the product to feed my wildlife and to promote their supplemental nutritional business. And the people who sponsored me, they were heartbroke that the mother global corporate prick canceled it. But within 24 hours, I had a replacement sponsor. Because assholes will be assholes, but there’s still unbelievable good people out there — good people in the asset column, not the asshole column.”
In his 2016 memoir, “18 And Life On Skid Row”, former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach wrote about how Nugent, whom he considered to be one of his musical idols, allegedly went on a racist tirade on the set of the VH1 reality show “SuperGroup”, causing Sebastian to step into the role of unlikely hero to the African-American crew by walking out and going to the producer, refusing to continue working with the Nuge.
The following year, Nugent slammed Bach for his comments, saying: “He falls in the ‘inconsequential’ column. It’s true — the guy smokes so much dope. People like Sebastian Bach will literally listen to me praise Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Little Richard and James Brown and Wilson Pickett, they’ll listen to me praise these black artists and literally call it racist. I mean, how much dope do you have to smoke to be that stupid?”
He continued: “Literally, I’m the one during that TV show that pounded home that we cannot lose touch with our black founding fathers, that if you don’t have that groove of the black artists, if you don’t have the Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Little Richard and James Brown groove, your music is worthless. That’s what I drove home. And he would call that being a racist? This is funnier than Richard Pryor‘s afro catching fire. I mean, how stupid can you get?”
“SuperGroup” followed five well-known hard rock and heavy metal musicians — Bach, Nugent, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian, ex-BIOHAZARD bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld and drummer Jason Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN, BONHAM, UFO, FOREIGNER) — over a twelve-day period during which they lived together in a Las Vegas mansion in order to create, plan and perform a live show together.
In a 2012 interview with Metal-Rules.com, Bach stated about Nugent: “To be honest with you, I think that Ted‘s political beliefs and social opinions overshadow how great a guitar player he is. More people know Ted for his outrageous views and political viewpoints. His music is so great, but a lot of people are disgusted by him. They don’t like guns. People don’t like racism, but he says some things that are from the ’50s. People don’t think like that anymore; it’s not acceptable. It’s a shame because I love his music and he is funny as hell. He is so abrasive with his beliefs, it takes the fun out of it.”
Nugent told Radio.com in 2014 that Bach was “incredibly gifted” and “a gentleman for the most part,” but he called the former SKID ROW singer “weak.” Nugent explained: “[Sebastian] doesn’t understand the concept of the [body as a] Sacred Temple. He doesn’t understand accountability. He doesn’t understand — clearly — how his indulgences and his poisons ruin his life. And his relationships, and his marriage. And his musical capabilities. I love the guy and if he’s watching this, I love you, but when you’re the drunk Sebastian Bach, you’re nowhere near the Sebastian Bach that you are when you’re clean and sober. Case closed. That isn’t a Ted Nugent opinion, that’s scientific truism.”
In 2019, Nugent defended Donald Trump after the then-U.S. president was accused of making racist remarks about Democratic congresswomen from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
