Kid Rock has been accused of drunkenly waving a gun in a reporter’s face during a recent interview.
The allegations have been put forward by journalist David Pesiner, who described the encounter in detail as part of a new piece for Rolling Stone.
In the piece, which was shared last night (May 19), Pesiner recalls how he visited the ‘00s rapper at his ranch in Nashville last month and ended up staying for hours as the interview progressed and saw Kid Rock act increasingly erratically.
During the discussion, the journalist claims, the Detroit rocker discussed his support for Donald Trump, and his views on the right-wing culture laws. He also continued to state that while he was at the ranch, the musician had more and more drinks and ended up pulling out a handgun.
In the report, Kid Rock – whose real name is Robert James Ritchie – pulled out a black handgun and began waving it in front of Pesiner’s face “to make some sort of point.” He also is quoted as allegedly saying: “I got a fucking goddamn gun right here if I need it!… I got them everywhere!”
Elsewhere in the dizzying report by Rolling Stone, the musician went on to use the N-word multiple times throughout the meeting, including a time when he stated that it was the Republican party that “freed the fucking slaves.”
Kid Rock in 2024, Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
Later, Pesiner writes that he made multiple attempts to leave the residence but was blocked by Kid Rock and, on one occasion saw the rapper asking him if he wanted a physical fight.
“Do you think you could whup the shit out of me?” he allegedly asked Pesiner, who responded, “Probably not.” Rock then allegedly said, “You can take a shot if you want.”
While the interview spanned multiple hours, according to the journalist, it ended with Kid Rock showing him out, and requesting that he write the “most horrific article” about him as “a favour”.
“Would you do me a favour? Just write the most horrific article about me. Do it. It helps me,” he is reported as saying to Pesiner as he left, before adding “Will you tell everyone that I was halfway cool?”
In other Kid Rock news, earlier this year the musician made headlines again after it was reported that Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson opened for him at two of his live shows.
Kid Rock in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
The collaboration came after the two first worked together in December, when Carlson interviewed Rock for his Tucker Carlson Network on YouTube. During the chat, the artist opened up about his friendship with former US President Donald Trump – calling him the “toughest son of a bitch I know” (via Newsweek).
“I can relate to him in a lot of ways,” he said at the time.
It also came after Rock hinted that he would be running for US Senate in Michigan in 2017, but later confirmed that he would not be doing so. He told The Guardian in 2015: “I am definitely a Republican on fiscal issues and the military, but I lean to the middle on social issues.”
In other Kid Rock news, the singer courted controversy last year when he hit out at Anheuser-Busch over its partnership with trans activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Later, radio host Howard Stern said he was “dumbfounded” by the artist’s transphobia.
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