Washed-up American Badass Bob Ritchie, who has been making his living as Kid Rock since 1990, has primarily spoken to right-wing media outlets in the few interviews he’s given over the past decade. Despite insisting he doesn’t need the attention, the Detroit cowboy recently sat down with a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine for a lengthy, fire-eating feature. According to writer David Peisner, their conversation was marked by Rock's tirades on immigration, liberal use of the N-word, and at one point, the musician drunkenly waving around a handgun.
The story features several disturbing moments in which we see the Bud Light and bigotry-sippin’ artist at his most unhinged. The interview starts with the writer noting that Rock’s white butler is nicknamed “Uncle Tom,” a term with racial connotations. At another point Rock proudly shows off the original General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, which features a Confederate flag on its roof, stored in a hangar on his 214-acre estate in Nashville, Tennessee. He laughs while telling Peisner that the butler's real name is Tom, adding, “don’t give me some shit in the article.”
Peisner traces the musician’s journey from his privileged upbringing in suburban Detroit with a Republican father to his rise as a rapper and later libertarian who criticized the GOP’s stance on gay marriage and abortion, and finally to his present position of culture war semi-relevance as a staunch right-wing figure. “I’m part of the problem,” Rock admits about the nation's divisions. “I’m one of the polarizing people, no question. Sometimes I bitch about other people, then I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, why don’t you shut the fuck up too?’”
The reporter allegedly spent a year trying to secure an interview with Rock, speaking with over a dozen former collaborators who were dismayed by his transformation from a rap-rocking party animal to a MAGA mouthpiece. Kenny Olson, Rock’s former lead guitarist, expressed his confusion, saying, “I don’t understand where a lot of this came from. I’ve always felt music should inspire people, not divide people. A lot of people from back in the day ask me, ‘What’s going on?’ I don’t know.”
While flipping through a photo album of his career, the self-proclaimed devil without a cause pauses at an image of himself wearing a Confederate flag shirt on stage with Run-DMC, commenting, “Nobody said a fucking word,” referring to the group’s members. He claims the flag had no deeper meaning, asserting, “I was using the Confederate flag because I love Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I think it just looks cool.” Regarding his support for Trump, who he refers to as “one of my besties”, Rock states, “You think I like Trump because he’s a nice guy? I’m not electing the deacon of a church. That motherfucker likes to win. He likes to cheat in his fucking golf game. I want that guy on my team. I want the guy who goes, ‘I’m going to fight with you.’”
Peisner suggests that Ritchie’s politics may be partly an effort to manage the emotional impact of a waning career. Despite his divisive nature, the musician insists he doesn't care about public opinion. “No, I don’t. You don’t understand. I really don’t give a fuck.”
Towards the end of the approximate two-hour interview, Peisner describes how his interviewee switched from white wine to multiple Jim Beam and Diet Cokes, then states, “He’s sitting in a dark leather chair, shouting at me about something or other, when he reaches behind the seat, pulls out a black handgun, and waves it around to make some sort of point.” “And I got a fucking goddamn gun right here if I need it!”, Rock asserted. “I got them everywhere!”
Before an exhausted Peisner can pick up his backpack and leave, a clearly inebriated Rock wants to make sure he first watches a YouTube video of him performing at a charity event well over a decade ago. After everything is said and done, Rock asks for one more favor. “Just write the most horrific article about me. Do it. It helps me.”
