Kid Rock is refusing to back down or apologize after he verbalized his “controversial” feelings about The View‘s co-host Joy Behar.
Kid Rock (Credit: YouTube)
Kid Rock tripped the TV censors during an episode of Fox & Friends. The Michigan native has strong political beliefs, and he isn’t shy about sharing them, like it or not. That was ever so apparent when Rock, who was born Robert James Ritchie, went on a rant over “political correctness.”
“You know and just talk about things without going for each other’s throats and protesting everything and God forbid you say something a little bit wrong, you’re racist, homophobic, Islamophobic. This, that and the other,” Rock said to Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy. “People need to calm down, get a little less politically correct. And I would say you know, love everybody,” he added. “Except I’d say screw that Joy Behar b*tch. Everybody but that.”
Joy Behar (Credit: YouTube)
Of course, Kid Rock calling Joy Behar the “B-word” on live TV caused quite a ruckus. Host Steve Doocy immediately apologized to the viewers. However, Rock didn’t back down. The controversial rocker did dial back his description of Joy Behar just a little, while still letting the world know exactly how he felt about her.
“I mean lady. I mean lady,” Rock added laughing. “Maybe we’ll go on and I’ll hash it out with her and we’ll talk about it. But, aside from joking which I was, is just go out and hash it out with people and have your thoughts and ideas but be able to still go have a beer with somebody and just say you know hey, we all love this country.”
When Doocy asked, “You do apologize for that language, right?” Kid Rock responded by declaring, “I did apologize for the language. Not the sentiment.” In other words, the Michigan musician is saying “sorry, not sorry.” He apologized for using the “B-word” on live TV, but not for his true feelings on Joy Behar.
This isn’t his first foray into controversy when it comes to political correctness. When protesters showed up outside the Detroit Historical Museum, which houses a Kid Rock exhibit, demanding that the rocker stop displaying the Confederate flag, he had a message for them.
Kid Rock music video (Credit: YouTube)
According to Rolling Stone, Kid Rock sent a statement to Fox News to relay his message to those upset in his native Detroit, saying, “Please tell the people who are protesting to kiss my ass…ask me some questions.” Although he was born and raised in Michigan, a Union state during the Civil War, the rocker had adopted the Confederate flag to highlight his Rebel Soul, the name of his 2012 album.
“In recent years, Rock has retreated to his estate in rural Alabama. Rock also toured extensively with Lynyrd Skynyrd, another – albeit Southern – act that made frequent use of the Confederate flag,” Rolling Stone reported. “As Fox News points out, Kid Rock aligns himself with the Southern pride connotations of the flag and not its racial implications, since Rock’s son Robert Ritchie Jr., is biracial, and as of December 2014, the First Kiss singer also has biracial grandchildren.”
Detriot Historical Society’s statement on Kid Rock (Credit: WXYZ/Screenshot)
Despite the controversy, the Detroit Historical Museum stood by the rocker, saying his contributions to the Motor City outweigh his appropriation of the Confederate flag, which is not featured at all in the exhibit.
“The Kid Rock Music Lab is one of 10 permanent exhibitions at the Detroit Historical Museum,” the museum said in a statement. “Kid Rock’s contribution to Detroit’s music history is significant and warrants his inclusion along with other key figures like Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, and Eminem. There are no displays of the Confederate flag in the Kid Rock Music Lab or anywhere else inside the Detroit Historical Museum.”