Kid Rock is refusing to apologize for his drunken rant, where he attacked Oprah Winfrey and Joy Behar by name at his Nashville honky-tonk in 2019.
“A drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts, I own what I said,” the rapper, whose real name is Robert James Richie, told Tucker Carlson during a recent episode of Tucker Carson Originals on Fox Nation.
The episode, titled “Life of a Rockstar,” showed Carlson visiting Kid Rock while he was on tour, which included a visit to his ranch. When the two sat down together for an interview, the musician doubled down on his feelings about Winfrey and Behar, as well as his words from three years ago.
Kid Rock, Oprah, Joy Behar. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Michael Tran/FilmMagic; Robert Ascroft/ABC
“I don’t apologize to anybody. I’m not an Oprah Winfrey fan. I got drunk and f—in’ next thing, I’m on stage [saying] f— Oprah…” the musician explained.
In 2019, TMZ released footage of Kid Rock onstage shouting “f— Oprah Winfrey and f— Joy Behar.” He also attacked Kathie Lee Gifford, though he explained that attack was unintentional, as he meant to direct his words to comedian Kathy Griffin.
“I was trying to go after Kathy Griffin you know, for holding up Trump’s head, but I’m so out of it I’m like ‘f— Kathie Lee Gifford.’” he said. “When it comes back on TMZ or whatever a few weeks later I’m like ‘oh man, I like Kathie Lee Gifford.’ We’ve been kind of friendly throughout the years…now I feel a little bad.”
This is far from the first time Kid Rock has caused conflict. In March of 2020, EW reported that Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock ‘n’ Roll Steakhouse in Nashville would close voluntarily after defying a request from Nashville Mayor John Cooper to close bars and limit the number of people dining at restaurants to help stop the spread of COVID-19. And a few months later, reports surfaced of Kid Rock and pro golfer John Daly trying to go maskless during the final presidential debate between Donald Trump and now-President Joe Biden, despite the fact that both had been pro-mask mandate only a few months earlier.
