Nugent Barred From Houston Venue After Alleged Immigrant Bashing
After rock musician Ted Nugent allegedly made denigrating and profanity-laced remarks about Latinos at a Houston concert, venue management said that he won't play there again. And the League of United Latin American Citizens plans to register its concerns with Sony Music Entertainment, which owns Nugent's label Legacy, a state LULAC official said.
Nugent, opening for KISS at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on April 1, allegedly launched into a diatribe on stage about Latino immigrants. "If you're not gonna speak English, get the **** out of America," he told the crowd, according to pavilion president David Gottlieb, who was at the concert. Gottlieb added that Nugent's use of the word "faggot" throughout the show was also a factor.
"We feel that when people spend good money on a concert, they shouldn't have to be abused because of their ethnicity, race or lifestyle," Gottlieb said. This is the first time in its 11-year history that the non-profit venue has made the decision to bar a performer, he added.
Following the concert, Nugent reiterated his position on immigrants when he spoke to the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday (4/5). ''If you're going to be an asset to America," Nugent said, "it would only be logical to speak the language. How can you be a benefit to your family, neighborhood or country if you can't speak to your fellow citizens? C'mon, if you can't speak English, get out of America.''
Some media sources reported that the League of United Latin American Citizens, which has 115,000 members nationwide and 250 councils in Texas, would organize a national boycott of future Nugent concerts.
But according to Texas LULAC chief of staff Denise Nuņo, the league is not planning a state or national boycott. (A spokesperson at LULAC's national office said that all activities related to Nugent were being handled by Texas councils.) Instead, LULAC plans to notify other cities about Nugent's remarks and to contact Nugent's record label Legacy, the Sony-owned label which has re-released many of Nugent's Epic label albums from the ''70s. The league also plans to notify Sony's corporate headquarters about its concerns.
"I don't believe there's a sponsor in the world that wants to associate themselves with that kind of activity," Nuņo said. "There's a lot of buying power in the Hispanic community."
She also said that her group was not trying to stifle Nugent's right to free speech.
"LULAC serves to protect the civil rights of all Americans... It [the concert] was a poor forum for him to use--we object to that. Role models should promote civil rights and social unity. His comments promote immigration bashing, racial hatred and divisiveness in our country, and that's what we object to."
Nugent's management had no comment. The musician is opening for KISS through April 30.
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