No Kid Rock at Bush concert
Committee backs off plan to feature rapper after pro-family Americans express outrage
Ron Strom, WorldNetDaily.com
January 12, 2005

Kid Rock, the vulgar rock-rapper whom inauguration staff initially talked of headlining the youth concert next week as part of the festivities for President Bush's swearing in, will not be appearing after all.

"He's not performing," a spokesman for the Presidential Inauguration Committee confirmed for WND.

Committee spokeswoman Jill Willis would not comment on the decision not to have Kid Rock perform.

"We're hoping to have our list of entertainers for inaugural events out sometime tomorrow, hopefully," she said.

So, why was Kid Rock bumped?

"I don't have a comment," Willis told WND. "We'll talk about the performers who will be performing after that information is released."

Later this afternoon, committee staff emphasized that Kid Rock was never officially booked to appear, arguing that he therefore could not have been canceled.

Word that the rapper will not join JoJo and Hilary Duff as performers at the Jan. 18 concert, which will be hosted by Bush twins Barbara and Jenna, comes after WorldNetDaily and other outlets publicized the fact that the committee was talking about featuring Kid Rock, which caused several pro-family organizations to ask their supporters to protest his appearance.

As WorldNetDaily reported, 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, has a history of vulgar lyrics.

Even so, Kid Rock, aka Robert James Ritchie, has been known to attend Republican events and was a supporter of Bush in last year's presidential race. The New York Times reported that during a party he attended at the Republican National Convention last year, Kid Rock noted that if he were president he would never get caught having sex in the Oval Office, but would instead install cameras in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Kid Rock's first album, "Grit Sandwiches for Breakfast," fixates on oral sex, including one song, "Yo Da Lin In The Valley," that describes the lyricist's exploits with multiple women in detail. Another similar tune is "Wax the Booty."

Also featured on his 1990 debut album is "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."

The performer's lyrics often center on the recreational nature of sex and speak of women as mere playthings.

According to an online bio, "Kid Rock is noted for his use of adult film stars when he performs (nude when he can get away with it), as Kobe Tai and Jenna Jameson have danced on stage while Kid does his thing."

After reading some of Kid Rock's lyrics, Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, was outraged the rapper would be a part of the president's festivities.

"I just read Kid Rock's sexually explicit lyrics and feel ashamed and dirty for even looking at his songs," he told WND. "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."

Besides Thomasson's group, other pro-family organizations, including Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association, decried the planned appearance of Kid Rock and asked supporters to express their outrage to the inauguration committee. AFA sent an e-mail to 2.5 million supporters asking them to take action.

After initial publicity about Kid Rock performing, the committee backpedaled on the issue, saying the vulgar entertainer was "not confirmed" to appear at the Bush youth concert.

AFA Chairman Don Wildmon told AgapePress he was frustrated after trying for several days to get a straight answer out of the committee about Kid Rock.

"All you have to say is yes, he's is going to be here; no, he's not going to be here," he said. "But they refuse to do that – which leads me to think that they have the man signed up [and] ready to come, but they're afraid of the backlash and they're waiting to see what's going to happen."

White House spokesman Tim Goeglein said yesterday that while he could not speak for the inauguration committee, "Based on the [Kid Rock] lyrics that I have been told about ... I can tell you that the president would never endorse such lyrics and would never condone them."

According to a Scripps-Howard report today, daughter Barbara helped arrange for JoJo and Hilary Duff to entertain, and "is still working on Kid Rock."