Ted Nugent After Scalise Shooting: I'll Stop ‘Hateful Rhetoric’

Right-wing rocker Ted Nugent said Friday that in the wake of the congressional shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday, he is giving up his violent political rhetoric. Previously, Nugent has made numerous graphic statements, including telling former President Barack Obama, who he’s dubbed a “piece of shit” and a “subhuman mongrel,” to “suck my tiger dick” and to “suck my machine gun.” He also called for Obama and Clinton to be “tried for treason and hung,” and once said, “Hey Hillary, you might want to ride of these [guns] into the sunset, you worthless bitch.” (The Secret Service was at one point called in to investigate his vicious statements, though he was not charged.) But Thursday, following the shooting of GOP Rep. Steve Scalise, Nugent told ABC Radio in New York: “At the tender age of 69, my wife has convinced me that I just can’t use those harsh terms. I cannot, and I will not, and I encourage even my friends/enemies on the left in the Democrat and liberal world that we have got to be civil to each other… if it gets fiery, if it gets hateful, I’m going away. I’m not going to engage in that kind of hateful rhetoric anymore.”