The death of celebrity chef and “Parts Unknown” star Anthony Bourdain moved people to flood social media on Friday with tributes.
Among the more unexpected tributes came from musician and outspoken conservative Ted Nugent, whose political views would seem to have little in common with Bourdain’s.
“Adios & Godspeed my kill it & grill it bloodbrother Anthony Bordain,” Nugent wrote early Friday morning, after news broke that Bourdain had died of an apparent suicide at age 61.
Bourdain discussed the curious bond between himself and the musician during a 2016 interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, saying that one “of the joys of my life” involved the “Cat Scratch Fever” rocker.
Discussing how food is capable of bringing together people with different viewpoints, Bourdain said, “I think I certainly went through a period where I was much more hard-line ideological. You know, I came out of the American left, and these were the bad guys, and these were the good guys.”
“And where are you with that after sharing apple pie with Ted Nugent and maybe hunting a pig and having biscuits with people who are angry and somewhat dangerous?” Maron replied.
“One of the joys of my life is getting Ted Nugent to agree with me on something. He agrees with me, reluctantly, on the Michelle Obama school lunch initiative. Now, he’s a guy who thinks that the Obamas are basically … Satan, at least. And he said as inflammatory s— as anyone ever has. He despises them and sees them as the enemy,” Bourdain replied.
“But as I put it to him, how could you be against what she’s saying? You’re a patriot, you know, this is a military readiness issue,” he continued. “He’s also an environmentalist. So getting him to agree on this one area, or at least see merit to an argument — OK, maybe I’m overstating the case, but we’ve actually appeared on TV, and I’ve gotten him to come down on the side that he agrees with her and thinks that what she’s doing is good.”
“For me, it’s a tiny victory. Plus, I got him to drink a beer, and I think it was like the second of his life,” Bourdain said. “So, you know, I don’t know whether I’m going to bring him around any further than that, but it feels good.”
See Nugent’s tribute to Bourdain, and listen to Bourdain discuss his time with the Nuge (starting at the 57-minute mark) below.
Adios & Godspeed my kill it & grill it bloodbrother Anthony Bordain
— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) June 8, 2018