Kid Rock is coming to NJ and some people are hugely pissed

Bob Ritchie was born and raised in Romeo, Michigan. Somewhere in the 1980s, he started calling himself Kid Rock as he launched his music career, but it wasn’t rock he began with. He was a white rapper who would later create a fusion of rap and rock and even some country with work like his collaboration with Sheryl Crow in “Picture.”

I feel a bit bad writing this because I knew a guy from his band named Frederick Beauregard, stage name Paradime. Freddie was on my show several times when I worked in Detroit, where Kid Rock was big, and I found out Kid Rock was a listener of mine. But we never met.

I was a fan of his, too, but in the way Chris Christie is a fan of Springsteen, where he likes his music but not his politics. The energy of “Bawitdaba,” the clever if crude lyrics in “Wastin’ Time,” the nostalgia of “All Summer Long.”

I’m a fan. But not of his politics.

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Kid Rock coming to NJ

Kid Rock’s “Freedom 250 Tour” will play at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on June 5. Many are not at all happy about it. That’s where his politics come in.

He’s a strong supporter of President Trump. As you know, being so heavily aligned with Donald Trump doesn’t play well in New Jersey. Just ask Jack Ciattarelli.

Remember the ridiculous spectacle of Kid Rock standing in the Oval Office wearing what looked like some bizarre ringmaster’s getup but designed as if an American flag and a can of Budweiser had a lovechild? Yet, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy was insulted for not dressing properly when visiting the White House.

Oh, speaking of Budweiser, remember the controversy when the brand dared to be slightly more inclusive and have actress and TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, appear in a Bud Light ad? Kid Rock’s response to that was to release a video of himself with a semiautomatic weapon opening fire on a case of Bud Light, riddling it with bullets. Such a sane, measured response, right?

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Kid Rock and Trump

Here’s the funny part, and perhaps why he has a relationship with Trump.

After that armed hissy fit, he continued serving Bud Light in his Nashville club, according to Salon.com.

Much like when Trump had called for a boycott against Coca-Cola and then was seen just weeks later with a Diet Coke on his desk in the Oval Office.

Maybe they get along because there are two different Kid Rocks and two different Donald Trumps. For a while, I had an agent by the name of Mike Novak who was a prominent Detroit entertainment lawyer. Sadly, he passed away at 57 in 2013. Mike also represented Kid Rock and told me more than once that Kid Rock was a different person when the cameras were off. That it was all an act. We’ve often heard this same thing about Donald Trump from the people who are closest to him.

Yet the hate persists. And boy has it come out for Kid Rock now that he’s announced a summer concert date at PNC Bank Arts Center.

The backlash

Tickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster and Live Nation for the “Freedom 250 Tour” show June 5 at PNC Bank Arts Center.

According to nj.com, some took to the venue’s Facebook page to leave comments expressing their disgust.

Just a few examples:

“The tour for dudes that walk around the 7-Eleven parking lot looking for half smoked cigarette butts and asking if you have a quarter.”

 

“Nothing says freedom like his hit song “Po Dunk”.

 

“The “if it ain’t white it ain’t right tour.”

 

“What's 100 feet long and has 12 teeth . . The front row at a Kid Rock concert”

 

“Let me guess, kearny new jersey and toms river folk will be out in droves”

And this one, referring to lyrics of one of Kid Rock’s songs…

“‘Young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage,’ ‘See some say that’s statutory.’ ‘But I say it’s mandatory.’” Have fun singing along and then going to Sunday service....”

Again, for those interested, tickets go on sale Friday.