Ted Nugent has lost yet another gig with a Native American casino, thanks to the rocker's various racially charged comments — this time a pair of concerts at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, which had been scheduled for August 2 and 3.
"The First Amendment gives people the right of free speech, but I think racism is intolerable and not acceptable here," Puyallup Tribal Council Vice President Lawrence W. LaPointe told the NBC affiliate in Seattle. "We've been getting lots of complaints from the community and other organizations." LaPointe also added: "I don't want to take away his right to say what he wants to say, but we don't need it here."
Among the complaints from tribe members about Nugent were the photos he has posted on his own Facebook account, in which he has worn a traditional Native American headdress. This is on top of his infamous comment earlier this year, when he referred to President Obama as a "sub-human mongrel."
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In this case, sadly, the tribe told the station that in addition to complaints about Nugent, they had also received outright threats from some individuals — including one about bombing the casino if Nugent performed.
The Puyallup Tribe's decision comes two days after another tribe, the Coeur d'Alene of Idaho, canceled a separate Nugent concert that was set for early August at their own casino. Nugent has not responded well to an apparent wave of cancelations, referring to the people agitating against him in a separate case (which was not connected to Native Americans in that instance) as "unclean vermin." --Eric Kleefeld
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