I feel like everyone is talking about this as if it was a PR thing, but I imagine these guys (and their families) started getting death threats immediately after. They could be getting specific threats about violence at their upcoming concerts. Now isn't really the time to not take that kind of shit seriously unfortunately. Yes, it's right-wing terrorism. Yes, it works. Unfortunately.
I see this as being more about self-preservation, and the safety of their families (and fans), than about PR. But maybe I'm wrong.
That was the impression I got, also. Like it was more of a personal safety thing. This isn't just indignant conservatives who would get mad or boycott them ala the Bush era, this is the era of threatening real violence.
I mean, he could have done it a bit differently (that showed more support of KG) Im still not happy with him but I think this was his reason.
You can't kill the metal. The metal will live on. Honestly not a surprise at all on any of this. People seem to have forgotten the dumb stoner culture that brought us Tenacious D in the first place. Yeah, KG and Jables have gotten older. They're "media friendly" now, so ofc they have to go into heavy damage control mode after saying dumb stoner shit on stage. Jables is getting that Disney and Nintendo money now. Gotta pay extra attention to that retirement fund these days.
I actually had a friend who actually tours as a musician school me on the whole situation...
He thinks Jack did this to try to save the asses of every road gig worker they employ. There were risks of not being able to get venues insured over it and it put the rest of the shows they were doing at risk of being cancelled anyway due to that. (You can't get a venue insured if they think there's definitely going to be attempted violence, even if that violence doesn't come from your fans but from people who hate you)
As much as I'm behind Kyle all the way, it's correct to admit that he put a lot of people out of a job with a thoughtless joke.
Maybe, just maybe, Jack wasn't just thinking about himself and his safety, but was also thinking about the safety of all the road gig workers employed by Tenacious D. Do they deserve the risk of right wing violence because Kyle made a throwaway joke? Not really. Maybe that's why Jack was so upset about, even, because he understands the Tenacious D tour is a business and with a dumb joke Kyle just wrecked the businesses ability to do business.
Anyway, a small consideration for Jack Black maybe not just doing this to save his own skin and income.
This is very much a case of "When the rich play games, it is the poor that lose". There is no positive outcome from this, regardless of what side of this story you are on.