Ted Nugent replies ‘eat me’ to critics of ‘anti-Semitic’ gun control post
By
Ted Nugent’s Facebook post features Israeli flags on a collage of the faces of 12 prominent Jewish Americans, and asks, “So who is really behind gun control?”
Thousands shared Nugent’s Feb. 8 post that calls those pictured, former U.S. Senator Carl Levin among them, “punks” and says “they hate freedom.”
In another post, Nugent described Jews killed by the Nazi regime as “soulless sheep to slaughter.”
The controversial messages have drawn national news coverage and criticism of Wango Tango Nugent, an outspoken gun-right’s supporter, hunter, and Michigander.
The graphic was shared with praise in some circles, but criticized by many others, sparking an online debate.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt of the civil rights organization, the Anti-Defamation League, called Nugent’s latest rant “nothing short of conspiratorial anti-Semitism.”
“Regardless of one’s views on gun control, this kind of scapegoating of an entire religious group is completely unacceptable and completely divorced from reality,” he wrote in a statement.
Ted Nugent’s courageous statement about Jewish leadership being gun-grabbers, has now caused millions to research the issue themselves!Good!
— Western Triumph (@Western_Triumph) February 9, 2016
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has spoken out about the post.
“Nugent has sunk to a new low with a series of statements that are so overtly racist and anti-Semitic they call into question why the NRA is continuing to allow him to represent their organization,” the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence wrote in a statement asking the NRA to remove Nugent from its Board of Directors, which he has been a member of since 1995.
The statement accompanies an online form for a petition to titled: “Tell the NRA: The repeated racist statements of NRA board member Ted Nugent are grossly offensive and intolerable. Remove him from your Board of Directors.”
The NRA issued a statement when asked about the controversy over Nugent’s post and calls for him to be kicked off the board, stating: “Individual board members do not speak for the NRA.”
The Anti-Defamation League called for Nugent to remove the post, whic he has not done as of 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 12.
Nugent, responding to a NY Daily News article about the issue, posted on Facebook Monday:
“Plummet on punks. Plummet on. Meanwhile I adjust my yamika at my barmitzva playing my kosher guitar. My dad killed nazis & saved Jews in WWII. Eat me.”
Nugent’s account answered an online question about if he was being banned from the NRA, stating: “I get some of the highest votes ever for (Board of Directors). allgood.”
MLive.com could not immediately reach Nugent or former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin for comment.
— Brad Devereaux is a reporter at MLive.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.