Kid Rock tells Tucker Carlson: Haters ‘can’t cancel me’

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Rap-rocker Kid Rock had a pretty succinct answer when he was asked by Fox’s Tucker Carlson why he hasn’t been cancelled for his outspoken conservative viewpoints.

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“I am uncancellable,” Rock (born Robert Ritchie) replied. “I’m not in bed with any big corporate things. At the end of the day, there’s nobody I’m beholden to — no record companies, no corporate interests, no nothing. You can’t cancel me. I love it when they try.”

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Rock was appearing on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight to promote his new album, Bad Reputation, and an upcoming tour. Carlson asked, “If there was a message behind the album, what would it be?”

“To my fans, I love you dearly. To critics, haters and trolls — go f— yourself,” Rock responded. “I love the trolls and the haters and the critics who’ve been trying to, you know, knock me down for 20, 30 years. And I’m still standing, [and] still operate at the highest levels.”

Elsewhere in his interview with Carlson, the talk show host asked Rock why more music artists don’t follow his lead.

“Because they’re in bed with record companies and, you know, corporate deals and instructors at every level,” he said. “I think I crawled out of the womb with both middle fingers in the air.”

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Rock also reflected on his relationship with former U.S. President Donald Trump, to whom he was introduced by onetime Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“He just knows how to have fun,” Rock said. But the 51-year-old musician, who was sporting a “We the People” cap, admitted he was puzzled when Trump asked his opinion about political issues, including militant jihadist groups like ISIS and North Korea.

“I was there with [Trump] one day when he ended the caliphate,” Rock told Carlson, per The Guardian. “He wanted to put out a tweet … I don’t like to speak out of school. I hope I’m not. But … the tweet was, and I’m paraphrasing, but it’s like, ‘If you ever joined the caliphate, you know, trying to do this, you’re going to be dead.’

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“He goes, ‘What do you think? [I replied] ‘Awesome. I can’t add any better.’ But then it comes out and it’s … more politically correct.”

He shared another anecdote in which he and Trump were looking at maps of the world and he asked, “‘Am I supposed to be in on this s—? Like I make dirty records.’”

Trump also asked Rock what “we should do about North Korea?”

“I’m like, ‘What? I don’t think I’m qualified to answer this.’”

But Rock had some idea why Trump managed to connect with so many people, with a possible run for re-election in the cards for 2024.

“See now, if you watch a Joe Biden interview, and you watch a Trump interview, there’s no comparison. And Trump speaks off the cuff,” he said. “I understand what it’s like, sometimes you get it wrong. But I would way rather hear somebody come from [the heart] and get it wrong once in a while.”

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Rock also warned Trump has more fans in Hollywood than people think. “Yeah there’s a ton of ’em,” he said. “Me and Trump talk about them a lot.”

The singer went on to share an unfiltered viewpoint of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who promoted masking and other health measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

“F— Fauci,” he said, which was a sentiment, Carlson observed, that was shared by many. “‘So this pretty much is knocking out overweight, unhealthy people?’” he said summing up his attitude as the pandemic dragged on. “I’m like, ‘I’m good.’”

Last fall, Rock was trolled online after he compared himself to Brad Pitt in a new song.

On the track, he sings, “I’m like Reverend Run or David Lee Roth/Like Springsteen bitch, I’m the motherf—ing boss/James Dean, s—, I’m more like Brad Pitt” but he “slings more d—.”

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“So now Kid Rock wants to compare himself to Brad Pitt. REALLY??? YOU BE THE JUDGE,” one Twitter user wrote, alongside a side-by-side shot of the two stars’ stomachs.

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He also drew fire last summer after he was filmed hurling a homophobic slur at fans filming him while he was singing in concert.

“You f—king f—-ts with your iPhones out!!!” Rock screamed.

But in an interview with the Guardian in 2015, he was defiant about being able to use the word “gay” when he said rap-rock genre had become “pretty gay.”

“If someone says you can’t say ‘gay’ like that, you tell them to go f— themselves.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

Article content

Rap-rocker Kid Rock had a pretty succinct answer when he was asked by Fox’s Tucker Carlson why he hasn’t been cancelled for his outspoken conservative viewpoints.

Article content

“I am uncancellable,” Rock (born Robert Ritchie) replied. “I’m not in bed with any big corporate things. At the end of the day, there’s nobody I’m beholden to — no record companies, no corporate interests, no nothing. You can’t cancel me. I love it when they try.”

Article content

Rock was appearing on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight to promote his new album, Bad Reputation, and an upcoming tour. Carlson asked, “If there was a message behind the album, what would it be?”

“To my fans, I love you dearly. To critics, haters and trolls — go f— yourself,” Rock responded. “I love the trolls and the haters and the critics who’ve been trying to, you know, knock me down for 20, 30 years. And I’m still standing, [and] still operate at the highest levels.”

Elsewhere in his interview with Carlson, the talk show host asked Rock why more music artists don’t follow his lead.

“Because they’re in bed with record companies and, you know, corporate deals and instructors at every level,” he said. “I think I crawled out of the womb with both middle fingers in the air.”

Article content

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Rock also reflected on his relationship with former U.S. President Donald Trump, to whom he was introduced by onetime Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“He just knows how to have fun,” Rock said. But the 51-year-old musician, who was sporting a “We the People” cap, admitted he was puzzled when Trump asked his opinion about political issues, including militant jihadist groups like ISIS and North Korea.

“I was there with [Trump] one day when he ended the caliphate,” Rock told Carlson, per The Guardian. “He wanted to put out a tweet … I don’t like to speak out of school. I hope I’m not. But … the tweet was, and I’m paraphrasing, but it’s like, ‘If you ever joined the caliphate, you know, trying to do this, you’re going to be dead.’

Article content

“He goes, ‘What do you think? [I replied] ‘Awesome. I can’t add any better.’ But then it comes out and it’s … more politically correct.”

He shared another anecdote in which he and Trump were looking at maps of the world and he asked, “‘Am I supposed to be in on this s—? Like I make dirty records.’”

Trump also asked Rock what “we should do about North Korea?”

“I’m like, ‘What? I don’t think I’m qualified to answer this.’”

But Rock had some idea why Trump managed to connect with so many people, with a possible run for re-election in the cards for 2024.

“See now, if you watch a Joe Biden interview, and you watch a Trump interview, there’s no comparison. And Trump speaks off the cuff,” he said. “I understand what it’s like, sometimes you get it wrong. But I would way rather hear somebody come from [the heart] and get it wrong once in a while.”

Article content

Rock also warned Trump has more fans in Hollywood than people think. “Yeah there’s a ton of ’em,” he said. “Me and Trump talk about them a lot.”

The singer went on to share an unfiltered viewpoint of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who promoted masking and other health measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

“F— Fauci,” he said, which was a sentiment, Carlson observed, that was shared by many. “‘So this pretty much is knocking out overweight, unhealthy people?’” he said summing up his attitude as the pandemic dragged on. “I’m like, ‘I’m good.’”

Last fall, Rock was trolled online after he compared himself to Brad Pitt in a new song.

On the track, he sings, “I’m like Reverend Run or David Lee Roth/Like Springsteen bitch, I’m the motherf—ing boss/James Dean, s—, I’m more like Brad Pitt” but he “slings more d—.”

Article content

“So now Kid Rock wants to compare himself to Brad Pitt. REALLY??? YOU BE THE JUDGE,” one Twitter user wrote, alongside a side-by-side shot of the two stars’ stomachs.

Article content

He also drew fire last summer after he was filmed hurling a homophobic slur at fans filming him while he was singing in concert.

“You f—king f—-ts with your iPhones out!!!” Rock screamed.

But in an interview with the Guardian in 2015, he was defiant about being able to use the word “gay” when he said rap-rock genre had become “pretty gay.”

“If someone says you can’t say ‘gay’ like that, you tell them to go f— themselves.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com