Kid Rock waxed political on stage Wednesday evening at a concert in his home state of Michigan as the musician continues to tease a bid in next year’s U.S. Senate race.
The singer and rapper born Robert Ritchie evoked subjects including the Black Lives Matter movement, Ku Klux Klan and controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick during a politically-charged rant delivered three songs into his performance Wednesday night in Grand Rapids.
“If you want to take a knee or sit during our ’Star-Spangled Banner:’ Call me a racist cuz I’m not PC and think you have to remind me that Black Lives Matter,” said Mr. Ritchie, MLive first reported.
“Nazis, [expletive] bigots and now again the KKK, screw all you [expletive], stay the [expletive] away,” he said.
The address “drew massive applause” before Mr. Ritchie segued into his 2002 tune “You Never Met a Mother[expletive] Quite Like Me,” the report said.
It didn’t answer whether Mr. Ritchie will actually run in next year’s race, however, notwithstanding concerns raised by ethics watchdogs and civil rights activists alike over his purported political ambitions.
Mr. Ritchie, 46, began hyping a “Kid Rock for Senate” website in July and has advertised merchandise in the interim containing apparent campaign slogans, albeit all without actually declaring his intent to run. The Common Cause grassroots group asked the Justice Department last week to investigate whether the website violates federal election laws, and Mr. Ritchie responded Friday, insisting: “I have still not officially announced my candidacy.”
“If ’Kid Rock for Senate’ has got folks in disarray, wait ’til they hear ’Kid Rock for president of the U.S.A.’!” he said Wednesday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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