“Terrified”: Does Jack White really hate Jack Black?
If life was like a 1980s cartoon, Jack White and Jack Black would be arch nemeses; separated at birth and sworn to face each other in a never-ending battle between good and evil. Depressingly, though, the world is not a brightly coloured children’s cartoon, so Jack White and Jack Black are not sworn enemies. Nevertheless, widespread perceptions might suggest that the White Stripes songwriter has never been overly fond of the School of Rock actor, comedian, and musician, owing to a misjudged joke back in the mid-2000s.
Despite a long-running gag on the Internet that the two opposing Jacks can never be present in the same room at one time, Mr Black and Mr White have crossed paths on numerous occasions. Perhaps the first came in 2002, when Black introduced a performance by The White Stripes at the 2002 VMAs.
As a self-professed rock obsessive, it is fair to assume that Black was endeared towards his counterpart for The White Stripes’ iconic garage rock revival sound, but it was unclear whether that appreciation went both ways. Then, in 2006, again at the MTV VMAs, the twain met.
Black was hosting the ceremony, which, to jog your memory, saw Panic! at the Disco win best video for ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’, and White was performing in the house band with The Raconteurs. At one point during the show, Black made a joke about forming a band with Jack White, ‘Jack Grey’. Not a particularly bad quip for a horrendously drawn-out award ceremony, but one which seemed to go down like a lead balloon with White, who just stood there looking dischuffed.
This awkward encounter led many armchair drama-obsessives to deduce that White hated Black. After all, White’s intensity and unwavering dedication to music seem pretty at odds with the fun-loving comedic energy of Black. As it turns out, though, this is not the case. Later that year, on the set of a music video for The Raconteurs in Brooklyn, White spoke about the flopped joke at the VMAs.
According to those in attendance at the shoot, per Brooklyn Vegan at the time, White revealed that the pair had discussed the joke beforehand, and his lack of response was intense to be the punchline. However, the former White Stripe admitted that, upon watching the footage back, he looked pretty miserable and annoyed by the comment. According to White, even his own mother asked him why he hated Jack Black.
Luckily, Black didn’t take that perceived annoyance to heart. Years later, in 2019, that VMA joke became reality when the pair finally worked together. The project saw White lending his production skills, along with the facilities of his label Third Man Records, to the Tenacious D track ‘Don’t Blow It, Kage’. Speaking about the project on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Black shared, “I love Jack White… But there also was terror, because you don’t wanna let Jack White down.”
So, despite the odd Internet rumour and a failed joke back in 2006, it is fair to say that Jack White does not hate Jack Black, and both opposing sides of the Jack spectrum seemed to immensely enjoy the experience working alongside each other in 2019. Although ‘Don’t Blow It, Kage’ wasn’t exactly the Jack Grey experience that fans had hoped for, there is no guarantee that the pair won’t cross each other’s paths once again in the future.
