Kid Rock is speaking out now that the highly controversial Super Bowl Halftime Show has wrapped up.
The Detroit native, who headlined Turning Point USA’s show that took place at the same time as the Halftime Show, took a shot at Jay-Z.
In a Feburary 9 interview on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, Rock reduced Jay-Z qualifications as the league’s Live Music Entertainment Strategist, to only being black.
“I think this all started, man, I could go on for days, but to sum it, I would think back 2016 with Colin Kaepernick took a knee, to protest I think racial injustice and police brutality and everything that, you know, got a lot of people’s panties in a bunch, self included,” Rock, 55, said to jost Laura Ingraham.
Rock added that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knew the negative implications Kaepernick’s protest would cause financially and needed a contingency plan.
“I did not agree with him [Kaepernick], but nonetheless, he’s got the right to, you know, speak his mind, do his thing. And Roger Goodell had a real problem on his hand back then. And I think he was like, how do I get out of this and keep making the tens upon millions of dollars a year that I make in a predominantly male Black league. So he goes, well, maybe Jay-Z will do it. Nothing against Jay-Z, I respect him for his hustle and his music. But it seemed like there’s a little bit of a DEI hire there going on, you know, to kind of like, you know, like, oh, you know, Black guys love Jay-Z.”
“And of course, I’m not that ignorant. I know a lot of us love Jay-Z, not just Black guys. But in the league where he had this problem, it seemed like, oh, you know, we’ll bring him in. And so, you know, Jay-Z is not going to take that position of power and that money.”
Rock, whose alternative show failed to draw in enough numbers to compete with Bad Bunny, also slammed his competitor’s performance at the Super Bowl as a “middle finger to the MAGA crowd.”
He said of the NFL commissioner, “So he brings in Jay Z and what’s Jay Z going to do, he’s going to do right by his base, that’s why he had Kendrick Lamar last year, which a lot of people didn’t get, I respect Kendrick, but it wasn’t my cup of tea and was another middle finger to conservative, to MAGA.”
Jay-Z and Roc Nation commenced their partnership with the NFL in 2019. As the Live Music Entertainment Strategist, Jay-Z makes the final call on who takes the coveted Super Bowl Halftime Show stage.
Since occupying the role, the stage has seen Maroon 5, Shakira & J.Lo, The Weeknd, Dr. Dre and friends, Rihanna, Usher, Kendrick, and now Bad Bunny.