Inauguration committee backpedals on Kid Rock
Despite multiple press reports, spokeswoman says rapper 'not confirmed' for youth concert
Ron Strom, WorldNetDaily.com
January 6, 2005

Despite press reports originating in the New York Times that rock-rapper Kid Rock would perform at the Bush inauguration, the Presidential Inauguration Committee now says the vulgar entertainer is "not confirmed" to appear at the celebration's youth concert.

As WorldNetDaily reported this morning, reports that the rapper would perform at the Jan. 18 concert, which will be hosted by Bush twins Jenna and Barbara, has outraged pro-family advocates who point to the fact that "values voters" were key to the president's re-election.

"If this sex-crazed animal, whose favorite word is the F-word, is allowed to sing at Bush's inauguration this will send a clear message to pro-family Americans that the Republican Party has taken them for a ride and ditched them in the gutter," Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, told WND.

The Detroit-based rapper, who dedicated his first album to songs about oral sex and who was voted the Sluttiest Male Celebrity at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, featured a song on one album entitled "Pimp of the Nation," which ironically takes a swipe at Bush's mother. The lyrics include:

Pimp of the Nation, I could be it
As a matter of a fact, I foresee it
But only pimpin' hoes with the big tush
While you be left pimpin' Barbara Bush

Some of Kid Rock's songs include the F-word in their title, such as "F--- U Blind" and "F--- Off."

"Kid Rock is not a confirmed entertainer," Presidential Inauguration Committee spokeswoman Jill Willis told WND. "That is our response to any questions about it. We don't even have him confirmed."

So, is the committee hoping to get the rapper confirmed?

"I'm not sure because I'm not from Events, and those are things they're working with down there, what they're doing with a huge lineup of entertainers coming from a variety of different backgrounds," she said.

When WND first contacted the committee about Kid Rock, a spokesman said he himself was surprised about the Kid Rock appearance and said someone would provide the newssite with an official statement. That statement came today in the form of the "not confirmed" comment.

Elisabeth Bumiller is the New York Times reporter who wrote earlier this week about the rapper's performance at the youth concert.

She told WND: "I talked to a number of people" in the committee's communications office who said Kid Rock would be performing.

Meanwhile, pro-family advocates today have expressed their outrage over the Kid Rock controversy.

Jan LaRue, chief counsel with Concerned Women for America, referred to Kid Rock's participation in last year's Super Bowl halftime show.

"The 540,000 complaints Americans made to the FCC about last year's Super Bowl halftime show weren't limited to Janet Jackson. Many were outraged by Kid Rock's performance too," said LaRue in a statement. "This guy ought to be inaugurated into jail life for violating obscenity laws."

Concerned Women for America said staff at the committee have confirmed they are getting calls complaining about the Kid Rock appearance.