(Reuters) – Ted Nugent said on Wednesday that the
U.S. Secret Service has arranged to meet with him after the rock musician severely criticized President Barack Obama during
the National Rifle Association convention last week.
Nugent, who told the gun rights group last week that he would be “dead or in
jail” next year if Obama is re-elected in November, appeared on conservative radio host Glenn Beck’s show on
Wednesday.
He was asked if he had heard from the Secret Service.
“We actually have heard from the Secret
Service, and they have a duty, and I salute them. I support them and I’m looking forward to our meeting tomorrow,” Nugent
said on Beck’s show.
“I’m sure it will be a fine gathering backstage in Oklahoma,” Nugent said.
The
63-year-old Nugent is set to perform in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on Thursday.
Nugent, the singer of such 1970s hit songs as
“Cat Scratch Fever” and “Motor City Madhouse,” is a longtime advocate for gun rights and in recent years he has campaigned
for conservative politicians and causes.
A Secret Service spokesman declined to directly address whether the federal
agency tasked with protecting the president would be meeting with Nugent.
“We are aware of the incident with Ted
Nugent, and we are conducting appropriate follow-up,” said spokesman Brian Leary in a statement. “We recognize an
individual’s right to freedom of speech but we also have a responsibility to determine and investigate
intent.”
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also made a high-profile appearance and speech at the NRA
convention attended by Nugent, who has endorsed Romney.
Nugent’s comments last week at the NRA convention were seized
on by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), in a fundraising email on Monday.
U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman
Schultz, chairwoman of the DNC, said at the time, “threatening violence — or whatever it is that Nugent’s threatening — is
clearly beyond the pale.”
In other comments at the convention in St. Louis last week, Nugent aimed his barbs at other
officials in Obama’s administration.
“We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November,”
Nugent said at the convention.
A spokesman for Nugent could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
But in his
appearance on Beck’s radio show, Nugent said he was not calling for violence.
“Every reference I made, whether it’s
a shot across the bow or targeting the enemy, it always ended the sentence with ‘in November at the voter booth,'” Nugent
told Beck.
Following Nugent’s comments last week, a Romney spokeswoman said the candidate believes “everyone needs to
be civil,” but stopped short of condemning Nugent.
(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Additional
Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker)