Ted Nugent draws criticism yet again

Ted Nugent is drawing criticism for his performance at Texas Governor Rick Perry's inaugural event in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday (January 16th) -- not for his music, but for his costumes, stage show, and antics. Nugent took the stage wearing a shirt featuring with the Confederate flag, used machine guns as props, and had uncomplimentary things to say about people who don't speak English, according to the Associated Press.

Nugent has lived in Crawford, Texas, since 2003, and the governor's spokesperson said, "Ted Nugent is a good friend of the governor's. He asked him if he would play at the inaugural. (Perry) didn't put any stipulation of what (Nugent) would play."

Perry, a Republican, has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in 2008, and Nugent is a long-time supporter of the GOP. But that didn't stop Republican operative Royal Masset from saying, "I think it was a horrible choice (for Nugent to perform). I hope nobody approved it." From the other side of the aisle, Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe said, "Whenever someone sports the Confederate battle flag, many Texans will be offended, and rightly so, because of what it symbolizes -- the enslavement of African-Americans and, more recently, the symbol of hate groups and terrorists."

It's not the first time Nugent's behavior has gotten him in trouble in Texas. Back in April 2000, when Nugent opened for Kiss outside Houston, he drew the wrath of local Hispanic groups when he announced from the stage, "If you're not gonna speak English, get the fuck out of America." Soon after, he told us how the controversy started: "What I said is, 'If you can't speak English, get the fuck out of America.' Spurred by a first-person, hands-on, eyewitness experience in America, where I've gone to enough fuckin' convenience stores where the cocksucker behind the counter can't translate 'doughnut' for me. I never mentioned the word 'Hispanics.' I never mentioned the word 'Mexicans.' I never mentioned the word 'Latinos.' I never mentioned the words 'Spanish language.' I merely said, 'If you can't speak English, get the fuck out of America.'"
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