American comedy rock duo Tenacious D has copped backlash for a “sick joke” made on stage just hours after Donald Trump was shot in the ear.

Actor Jack Black and Kyle Gass were performing in Sydney on the weekend when Black asked his bandmate his wish for his 64th birthday, after the audience sang Happy Birthday.

After a brief pause, Gass responded: “Don’t miss Trump next time.”

The reference to the attempted assassination of the US presidential candidate triggered audience laughter and clapping, caught in a video posted to TikTok.

However, as it circulated online, social media users quickly condemned the comment and vowed to boycott the band.

United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet – a keen supporter of Trump on social media – called for the duo to be deported from Australia. He said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should “denounce” Tenacious D.

“To advocate and or wish for the assassination of an American president is egregious, disgusting, filthy, evil and not acceptable in any way, shape or form,” Babet said.

“This was not a joke. He was deadly serious when he wished for the death of the (former) president.”

On Tuesday, promoter Frontier Touring said Tenacious D’s performance planned for Newcastle later that night had been called off.

“Frontier Touring regret to advise that Tenacious D’s concert tonight at Newcastle Entertainment Centre has been postponed.
Ticket holders are asked to hold onto their tickets until further information is available,” the company wrote on social media.

The sold-out show was canned with just a few hours’ notice.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday (AEST) when a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks hit his right ear, just millimetres from his skull.

The shock assassination attempt was followed by calls from both sides of politics to dial down the political rhetoric in the US election campaign.

US President Joe Biden used the formal setting of the White House Oval Office to ask Americans to lower the political temperature and remember they are neighbours.

Trump’s shooting “calls on all of us to take a step back”, Biden said on Sunday. “Thankfully” Trump was not seriously injured, he said.

“We can’t allow this violence to be normalised. The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” Biden said.

“We all have a responsibility to do this.”

It was Biden’s third use of the formal setting of the Oval Office to comment on issues of major importance to Americans since he took power in 2021.

Gun violence is a fact of life in the US.

Political violence is far rarer, although four US presidents have been assassinated and several more have escaped assassination attempts. Multiple presidential candidates have been shot, some fatally.

-with AAP