On This Day in 2003, Ted Nugent Gave a Derogatory Interview That Cost Him a Festival Gig

May 5, 2025 10:12 am

On this day (May 5) in 2003, a pair of radio disc jockeys cut an interview with Ted Nugent short. The judgment call came after Nugent used multiple racial slurs during the chat. His actions prompted calls from angry listeners. Additionally, the incident caused him to be bumped from a festival lineup later in the month.

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In 2003, Nugent was a semi-regular guest on the Detroit-based radio station KRFX-FM. He would appear on the station multiple times a year to promote concerts, albums, or whatever else. However, that came to an end, at least for a while, after a chat with Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax in May 2003. The “Stranglehold” rocker used racial slurs twice during the interview, causing the hosts to cut it short.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, Nugent told the hosts that a member of the Funk Brothers “complimented his guitar playing by using a racist term” for Black people. “We’ve known Ted a long time, and he’s been on the show many times,” said Floorwax. “So when he went down that road, we stopped him and gave him a chance to bail himself out, but he didn’t take it,” he added. Later, the rocker used a derogatory term for Asians.

“Ted likes to shock people,” Lewis said. “He’ll come on the show occasionally and drop a bomb like that and then step back and see the reaction it gets. He loves that reputation of a shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy,” he added. The DJs said the rocker wouldn’t be back on the station “any time soon.”

Ted Nugent Gets Bumped from Michigan Festival After Interview

Ted Nugent was slated to perform at the Muskegon Summer Celebration in Muskegon, Michigan later that year. However, he was pulled from the lineup after his interview on KRFX. According to Billboard, festival organizers replaced him with Pat Benatar and Blues Traveler.

Summer Celebration’s board spoke with several community leaders about having Nugent on the festival’s bill. Eventually, they decided “it was in the best interest of the community” to replace him.

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