Rock-rapper Kid Rock released his first album in 1990, hitting it big eight years later
with Devil Without a Cause.
He's continued to make music ever since.
Through it all, controversy and Kid Rock have gone hand in hand.
Here are some of the worst things Kid Rock has ever done.
By 2004, Kid Rock had grown popular enough to be invited to perform at the Super Bowl
halftime show, which also featured Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, P. Diddy, and Jessica
Simpson.
When he took to the stage, Kid Rock wore an American flag as a poncho.
This didn't go down well with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, with CBS News reporting that
the VFW commander in chief slammed the poncho as being:
"In poor taste and extremely disrespectful."
In the book Zell Miller: A Senator Speaks Out on Patriotism Values and Character, Georgia
Senator Zell Miller, a former Marine, wrote that he was even more incensed, saying,
"Seeing this ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through the hole he had cut in the
flag of the United States, yelling about having 'a bottle of Scotch and watching lots of crotch.'...[Kid
Rock should be] tarred and feathered and ridden out of this country on a rail."
However, the uproar over his stars-and-stripes clothing choice was completely swept aside
by the scandal unleashed by Jackson's notorious wardrobe malfunction and the backlash that
followed.
Old Glory wasn't the only flag that created controversy for Kid Rock.
In fact, he's been criticized repeatedly over the years for unfurling the Confederate flag
during performances.
Despite backlash and protests, he remained defiant.
In 2008, Kid Rock told The Guardian he had no plans to stop waving the flag, saying,
"Sure, it's definitely got some scars, but I've never had an issue with it.
To me it just represents pride in Southern rock' n' roll music, plus it just looks cool."
However, a survey undertaken by market research firm YouGov determined that 41 percent of
Americans believe "the Confederate flag represents racism," which explains why protests erupted
when the Detroit NAACP presented Kid Rock with an award.
A protestor told the Associated Press,
"You know what that flag stands for?
It stands for hatred, bigotry, racism, murder."
According to Billboard, when Kid Rock accepted the award he said:
"I've never flown that flag with any hate in my heart.
Not one ounce."
In 2015, Kid Rock made his feelings about the backlash crystal clear when he relayed
the following statement to Fox News host Megyn Kelly:
"Please tell the people who are protesting to kiss my... ask me some questions."
The 2010s found Kid Rock becoming increasingly political, and his views leaned heavily to
the right.
In 2017, the rapper made a provocative statement when he took to Twitter and shared an image
of a political yard sign reading "Kid Rock for US Senate."
He then made an apparent announcement he was planning a political run, writing,
"I have had a ton of emails and texts asking me if this [campaign] website is real.
The answer is an absolute YES."
But was it?
While visiting The Howard Stern Show he confessed the whole thing was a hoax.
"F--- no, I'm not running for Senate.
Are you f---ing kidding me?
Who f---ing couldn't figure that out?"
His admission resulted in a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission, which launched
an investigation.
The FEC ultimately concluded there was "no evidence" that Kid Rock took any official
action after that initial tweet, adding,
"Further pursuing this matter would have been an unwise use of commission resources."
Before Kid Rock's Senate run was revealed to be a PR stunt, he was introduced as "the
next senator from the state of Michigan" when he took to the stage at a concert in his hometown
of Detroit in September 2017.
As Time reported, he then delivered a profanity-laced stump speech that laid out the bare bones
of his decidedly un-PC platform.
He railed against tax dollars being used to help, in his words,
"Some deadbeat [or a single mother who keeps] having kid after f---ing kid."
He also blasted the Colin Kaepernick-inspired take-a-knee protests before asking,
"Why these days is everything so gay?"
On the topic of transgender rights, he declared,
"Whatever you have between your legs should determine the bathroom that you use."
He also addressed accusations he was a racist, which had been fueled by his love of the Confederate
flag.
He said,
"I love black people.
And I love white people, too.
But neither as much as I love red, white, and blue."
"I'm the most un-politically correct person you'll meet, and I'm very, very proud of that."
Kid Rock's rant resulted in backlash, with News One Now reporting the National Action
Network called for his upcoming concerts in Detroit to be cancelled.
In January 2018, the National Hockey League announced that Kid Rock would be the performer
at that year's NHL All-Star Game.
As Sporting News reported, the announcement was instantly greeted by concerns over his
alleged "racism, sexism and homophobia," along with his continued use of the Confederate
flag as a stage prop and his opposition to controversial NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Twitter unleashed a tsunami of outrage.
One comment read,
"WTF are you doing [NHL]?"
Another user wrote,
"This is unbelievably out of touch.
Why not somebody uncontroversial and broadly appealing, like anyone else?"
According to ESPN, the NHL was "aware" of the opposition to featuring Kid Rock at the
All-Star game, but stood by its decision.
As NHL exec Steve Mayer explained, the league selected Kid Rock simply because he was a
longtime hockey fan.
He said,
"It's all about the entertainment at the end of the day for us, and this selection was
purely based on that, and the fact that Kid Rock is a hockey lover."
After years of keeping her political views to herself, Taylor Swift took to Instagram
to publicly throw her support behind two Democratic congressional candidates during the 2018 midterm
elections.
A subsequent Vogue cover story focused on her decision to finally share her political
opinions with fans.
The day after the Vogue story was published, Kid Rock felt the need to throw in his two
cents in a scorched-earth tweet.
He wrote,
"Taylor Swift wants to be a Democrat because she wants to be in movies...period."
He then made a crude reference to Swift performing an adult act, adding,
"Oldest move in the book.
Good luck girl."
Swifties came after Kid Rock with the kind of white-hot fury that can only be mustered
by a teenager.
They were joined in their outrage by some celebrities who were also appalled by the
insulting, sexist remarks.
Chrissy Teigen simply wrote,
"You're pathetic."
Patton Oswalt sarcastically wrote,
"Amen, Bob.
She should be a real American like you, growing up on a six-acre estate complete with tennis
court and horse paddock, and then bravely adopting a faux 'redneck s---kicker' cosplay
persona.
God bless you, buddy ruff."
Kid Rock was in a celebratory mood while attending the opening of his new Nashville, Tennessee
eatery, Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse.
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy was on hand to get a few comments and sure enough, he
had a few.
Sipping what seemed to be an adult beverage from a styrofoam cup, Kid Rock told Doocy,
"God forbid you say something a little bit wrong, you're racist, homophobic, Islamaphobic,
this, that and the other, people need to calm down and get a little less politically correct."
He wrapped up with one final piece of, well, advice.
"I would say, you know, love everybody, except I'd say screw that Joy Behar b----."
Doocy immediately apologized to viewers for the rapper's salty language.
Kid Rock clarified, but didn't back down, saying he apologized for the "language, but
not the sentiment."
The following day, Behar a standup comic before joining The View responded to the insult in
her own way during a broadcast of the daytime talk show.
"This b---- and these b----es will be happy to have you on the show and have a beer."
According to Rolling Stone, backlash to Kid Rock's comments was so severe that he wound
up being booted as Grand Marshal of Nashville's 2018 Christmas Parade.
In November 2019, Kid Rock jumped onstage at his Nashville, Tennessee restaurant and
went off on, you guessed it, a profanity-laden rant.
Those remarks were captured on video and wound up in the hands of TMZ.
In between f-bombs, Kid Rock trashed Oprah Winfrey, Joy Behar, and Kathie Lee Gifford,
telling anyone who thought he was a racist to, quote, "f--- off."
With one audience member telling NBC News that Kid Rock appeared to be "blackout drunk,"
the rapper's tirade was interrupted when a member of the restaurant's team escorted him
offstage.
He later offered a sort-of explanation on Twitter, claiming it was based on the way
Winfrey had asked him to do her show years earlier.
He wrote,
"My people tried to get me to do The Oprah Winfrey show years ago and her people wanted
me to write down 5 reasons why I loved her and her show.
I said f--- that and her.
End of story."
There was fallout.
According to the Detroit Free Press, days after the video leaked, the company that owned
the Detroit arena housing his Made in Detroit bar announced Kid Rock had, quote, "voluntarily
decided not to renew" the agreement, and the bar would shut down.
The company would seek a new establishment that shared their company values.
Kid Rock commented on the closure in a Facebook post that boasted his many charitable donations
to Detroit organizations and undying affinity for his hometown and its residents.
However, the rapper also stated,
"[I] learned long ago, go where you're celebrated, not tolerated."
In late 2019, on the same day of the announcement that Kid Rock's Made in Detroit restaurant
would be shutting down, the establishment settled a racial discrimination lawsuit filed
by a former employee.
According to the Detroit Metro Times, Carinne Silverman-Maddox, who claimed to be the restaurant's
only black bartender, filed a federal lawsuit against Made in Detroit.
She alleged she was fired for wearing her hair in, quote,
"A curly afro, instead of straightening it or putting it up like her Caucasian coworkers."
While the terms of the settlement were not made public, the lawsuit claims that Silverman-Maddox
was:
"Abruptly suspended...for allegedly over-pouring a single drink."
Following her suspension, Silverman-Maddox alleged she was removed from the bar's schedule
and eventually denied access to the schedule entirely.
When her attorney informed the bar that she had retained a civil rights attorney, she
was then officially fired.
When the Detroit Free Press first covered the lawsuit, Kid Rock, who wasn't named in
the suit, responded by blasting the newspaper on Twitter, saying,
"More bad journalism.
Another attempt to get cheap clicks and views.
Only minor investigating instead of immediate reporting would reveal the correct facts."
In 2001, Kid Rock started dating Pamela Anderson.
According to Us Weekly, they got engaged in 2002, only to break up in 2003.
They reconnected in 2006 and got married in the French Riviera that same year.
The marriage ended quickly, however, with Anderson filing for divorce 17 days later.
"I was bored.
I felt like it was just time to move on."
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen may have shed some light on the reason behind the marriage's
brevity.
Speaking with the Daily Beast's Last Laugh podcast about his 2006 film Borat , he talked
about a scene featuring his character throwing Anderson over his shoulder and accidentally
injuring her jaw.
He said,
"She lost two things.
One, she lost a tiny bit of bone from her jaw and secondly, she lost a husband."
He was apparently referencing a 2006 report in the New York Post, in which a source alleged
Kid Rock attended a Borat screening and became incensed with the way Anderson was portrayed.
The source shared,
"[Kid Rock] started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her,
'You're nothing but a w----!
You're a s---!
How could you do that movie?'"
Cohen confirmed that through a text exchange, Anderson told him that the movie was in fact
the reason for her quickie divorce.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.