Jury Awards $100,000 In Damages To TED NUGENT For Canceled Concert

The Associated Press is reporting that a Muskegon County jury ruled Thursday (March 31) that a music festival must pay $100,000 in damages to rock star Ted Nugent.

The guitarist-singer, perhaps best known for his 1977 hit "Cat Scratch Fever", had sued Muskegon Summer Celebration over the cancellation of his June 2003 show.

Nugent said a festival news release at the time of the cancellation wrongly accused him of making racist remarks.

The jury found that festival organizers breached their contract with Nugent and awarded him $80,000 in damages, as well as another $20,000 for lost proceeds from the sale of merchandise.

Nugent's concert was canceled after he used a slur offensive to blacks during a live interview on Denver radio station KRFX-FM in May 2003.

During the trial, Nugent testified that he used the word while quoting a black Motown musician's compliment to a then-teenage Nugent in reference to his guitar skills.

Nugent, a 56-year-old Detroit native, now lives in Crawford, Texas.