Maybe Trent’s just a Beto guy? At Nine Inch Nails’ Texas performance on Nov. 27, frontman Trent Reznor shared a story with his crowd, revealing Texas senator Ted Cruz had asked for free tickets to the NIN show. Reznor’s response? “Fuck off.”

Despite his reputation as one of the United States’ most unpopular senators, Ted Cruz was able to defeat Beto O’Rourke in the 2018 Midterm Elections. Beto got closer to unseating Cruz than many expected, only losing by 220,000 votes in an election where 8.3 million ballots were cast. Ted Cruz will hold his Senate seat for the next six years, but he won’t be getting backstage passes to Nine Inch Nails anytime soon.

“Who voted for Ted Cruz?” Reznor asked the Irving, Texas crowd as a shower of boos descended upon the venue. “See the lights aren’t on, I can’t see. Is there any way to turn the lights on? I’d like to see. Raise your hand, you guys, nothing to be ashamed of, just checking."

"He might be here tonight," continued Reznor. "He was bugging to get on the guest list, and I told him to fuck off. We put him on a few years ago, he drank all the beer, and was just a pain in the ass to be around. So, I won’t, I won’t hold it against you.” You can watch it play out in the Reddit video below.

Trent asks the crowd who voted for Ted Cruz - 11/27 Irving, TX from r/nin

We can’t decide what’s more surprising: Reznor telling Cruz to “fuck off” in 2018 or NIN letting the senator drink all their beer a few years back. Though Reznor took a moment to tear down Cruz, he offered a heartfelt tribute to David Bowie, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell by covering Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans.”

Check out the footage of Reznor addressing the Texas audience above and click here for Nine Inch Nails’ remaining tour dates.

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