Jack Black surfaces in phoenix rising T-shirt after canceling Tenacious D tour over bandmate Kyle Gass’ joke about Trump assassination attempt

Jack Black surfaced in Los Angeles on Saturday after canceling his Tenacious D tour following a scandal involving his bandmate Kyle Gass over a joke about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Hours after the shooting, Gass celebrated his birthday on stage in Sydney, where Black gave him a cake and asked him to make a wish.

“Don’t miss Trump next time,” Gass said, drawing laughter and explosive applause from the live audience at the ICC Theater.

The comment caused an explosive controversy, with Black publicly stating that he was “caught off guard” by Gass’s joke. He canceled the Tenacious D tour and announced that “all future creative plans are on hold.”

In the wake of all the commotion, Black wore a T-shirt featuring a phoenix rising from the ashes this weekend in Los Angeles.

Black announced Tuesday that the tour was being canceled, three days after the Trump rally shooting that left former Fire Chief Corey Comperatore dead when he jumped in front of his family to shield them from gunfire.

“I was surprised by what was said on Sunday’s show. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form,” he wrote.

“After much consideration, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour and all future creative plans are on hold. I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.”

Black’s fans were left angry online after he threw his longtime friend and collaborator under the bus over one controversial joke.

Gass also released a statement apologizing for his remark, which he described as “highly inappropriate, dangerous, and a terrible mistake.”

But when his career went up in flames and his agency dropped him, Gass eventually deleted his apology from his social media.

According to an insider, Black has canceled Tenacious D’s tour in a desperate attempt to avoid being forced out of Hollywood and jeopardizing his future films.

He was taken aback by Gass’s comments and quickly decided to do damage control to save himself from “career suicide” and undermining his reputation in the industry.

“Jack Black is still Kyle Gass’ best friend,” an insider exclusively told DailyMail.com. “He didn’t expect Kyle’s dig at Trump and with his status in Hollywood, he had to squash the controversy head on.

Although Jack was surprised and even taken aback by the reaction, he made sure to get ahead of it.

‘Jack doesn’t want his tour to be cancelled and by ending the tour and distancing himself from everything and the Kyle joke, he hopes people will quickly forget about it.

“There are so many big movies that Jack is tied to right now that it would be career suicide. We will see Tenacious D again, but that could be years away.”

Black is currently in post-production on three films, including the upcoming sci-fi action comedy Borderlands, due out later this year.

He will star in the live-action film based on the video game Minecraft, alongside Jason Momoa and Danielle Brooks. The film will be released in theaters on April 4, 2025.

He will also share the screen with Keegan-Michael Key in the new Christmas comedy Dear Santa, which follows a young boy who accidentally sends his wish list to Satan.

Gass, who has been a vocal opponent of Trump, reportedly fears for his friendship with Black.

“Obviously Kyle didn’t want it to get to this point,” the insider said. “He feels genuinely guilty about the fallout.

‘He thought it was a throwaway line during a show, but it’s taken on a life of its own and he’s accepted his current fate.

“He just hopes that people forgive him and that it doesn’t jeopardize his friendship with Jack.”

Until Tuesday’s show was canceled, Black and Gass were on the Spicy Meatball Tour, which kicked off in May and was set to end in October.

They had already performed in the US and Europe and were scheduled to perform in several cities in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the US for more shows.

They are also scheduled to hit the streets in October, before Election Day, to raise voter awareness as part of Rock the Vote, an independent nonprofit organization.

They were scheduled to perform five times in college towns, most of which are now sold out, including Columbus, Bloomington, Madison, Kalamazoo and State College, Pennsylvania.

The band has not confirmed whether the plug has been pulled on these dates. All proceeds would be donated to Rock the Vote.

Australian Senator Ralph Babet joined the chorus of outraged voices in demanding that the band be expelled from the country following Gass’s controversial comments.

After the shooting that left a bystander dead on Saturday, detectives were searching for clues about what motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to carry out the shocking attack.

The FBI said it was investigating it as a possible act of domestic terrorism, but the lack of a clear ideological motive in the man shot dead by the Secret Service has led to many conspiracy theories.

The FBI suspects that Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the meeting, acted alone.

Last month, Black delivered a speech at a major fundraising event in Los Angeles for President Joe Biden, expressing his support for the leader.

The event, which raised more than $30 million, was also attended by former President Barack Obama, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand.