Garth Brooks cancels appearances amidst Ferguson protests

Country music star Garth Brooks has canceled scheduled appearances this week, saying it would be in poor taste to promote his comeback album in the midst of national protests after a grand jury declined to indict a white policeman in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager.

Brooks, 52, canceled appearances on NBC's late night "Tonight Show" and morning "Today" show as well as daytime talk show "Live with Kelly and Michael" and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" daily news broadcast.

"To spend the day promoting our stuff like nothing was wrong, seemed distasteful to me," Brooks said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Brooks, who has sold more than 130 million albums worldwide, released "Man Against Machine" on Nov. 11, his first studio album in 13 years.