Gun Loving Ted Nugent's Jewish Problem

Whenever Mitch Albom launches a new book, he throws a big event in Detroit and invites some of his celebrity friends to join him on stage. I've been to a few of these and was surprised to see Ted Nugent at the most recent event. Nugent, the ultra-right wing Rocker, was invited along with his wife Shemane because of the couple's Freedom’s Angels Foundation, which helps wounded soldiers and their loved ones. Apparently, he and Albom have become friendly over the years and bonded over their love of music.

Ted Nugent, his wife Shemane, and Mitch Albom with Michael Bolton and musician Olivia Millerschin
(Regina H. Boone, Detroit Free Press)

I must say that in my brief discussion with Ted Nugent at this event, I began to reconsider my preconceived notions about him. Nugent has a reputation for being an offensive, abrasive, loud mouth who is equal parts racist and misogynistic. However, he actually seemed like a nice guy at this event (he was still loud) and I enjoyed watching Mitch Albom interview him in a fireside chat style. Before the event began Nugent was even gracious enough to join my list of celebrities who have offered "Shabbat Shalom" greetings on video.

With Ted Nugent in Detroit last year. I always add the disclaimer that a photo with someone does not constitute my agreement with their opinions. Never has that been truer than with this photo!

But then yesterday afternoon a friend told me to go look at Ted Nugent's Facebook page in which Nugent posted a very an anti-Semitic image. In the post, Nugent blames prominent Jewish people for pushing gun control by overlaying Israeli flag icons on each Jewish person's photo. The image is titled "So who is really behind gun control?" and Nugent made a photo grid of 12 Jews (Senators Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, former Senator Carl Levin, Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Alan Dershowitz, etc.). The graphic wasn't created by Nugent, but it has appeared on anti-Semitic websites in the past.


The caption under Nugent's post said, "Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil. They would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP AND BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down!" The Anti-Defamation League was quick to respond.

Nugent then followed that post with an iconic photo from the Holocaust in which he equates pro-gun control Americans with the Jews who were mass murdered in Nazi Europe. Nugent is out of his mind. I certainly don't see eye to eye with him on his maniacal positions regarding guns, but for him to post such anti-Semitic images and statements on his Facebook page to his 2.7 million followers is disgusting.

I submitted these two offensive images to Facebook to review as being against Facebook's community standards. I also reported a photo of a topless woman on Nugent's Facebook page. Ironically, Facebook responded that it removed the photo of the topless woman, but didn't deem these two images in violation of its standards. I hope enough people pressure Ted Nugent to remove these offensive images and statements from his Facebook page and to apologize to the millions of Jewish men and women he has offended.