(Newser) – A Texas town was so desperate to do away with a planned performance by Ted Nugent that it actually paid him $16,250 not to appear. The city of Longview was considering the outspoken rocker to headline its Independence Day celebration, but changed its mind after that incident in which Nugent called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel," UPI reports. The problem? There was a dispute between city leaders, the promoter, and the booking agency about how far along the negotiations had gotten, and ultimately the city had to pay half of Nugent's guaranteed performance fee for breaking a verbal contract.

Officials, of course, are downplaying the "mongrel" incident: A spokesperson for the city tells the Longview News-Journal there were "a variety of reasons. Cost, structure, is it the right musical act for this type of event—a city-sponsored, family-oriented overall event." And the mayor concurs: Nugent "didn’t really fit what we trying to put together, a family-oriented program ... that probably wasn’t the right act." But the outgoing chairman of the Gregg County Republican Party disagrees: "It’s directly related to the state-level stuff," he says, referring to the "mongrel" comment, which was made while Nugent was campaigning for Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott. "We have paid $16,000 to Ted Nugent for political correctness." (Read more Ted Nugent stories.)

