Detroit Free Press denied credentials to Kid Rock concert after column criticizes musician
NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 10: Kid Rock joins Charlie Worsham during Charlie Worsham's Midnight Jam - Day 3 on June 10, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images,)
(WJBK) - The Detroit Free Press has been denied press and photo credentials to the Kid Rock concert Tuesday evening after the musician took issue with an opinion column.
The newspaper reports the artist's publicist Kirt Webster made the decision Monday to deny access in response to a Free Press column published Sept. 2.
In the column, Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson wrote that Kid Rock opening at the new Little Caesars Arena is a middle finger to Detroiters.
"This is a musician who got rich off crass cultural appropriation of black music, who used to wrap his brand in the Confederate flag - a symbol inextricably linked to racism, no matter what its defenders say - and who has repeatedly issued profane denouncements of the very idea of African Americans pushing back against American inequality," Henderson writes.
Despite this being an opinion piece, Webster told the Free Press that it was enough to ban reporters from the Little Caesars Arena concert.
"You guys wrote a f****ed up story and allowed it to be published. You want a quote, there it is," Webster told the Free Press.
Kid Rock came under scrutiny after expressing his political views last week during a Grand Rapids concert, criticizing NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and others who "take a knee or sit" during the national anthem. Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem while with the San Francisco 49ers last year in protest of police violence and social injustice.
Some are calling for Kid Rock's shows to be cancelled, including the National Action Network that is planning a protest at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday ahead of the artist's first show.
The singer posted an obscenity-laced response Monday.
WARNING: Post contains explicit language.
Kid Rock is scheduled to perform six shows, Sept. 12-17.