Kid
Rock's
Detroit
eatery
closing
after
his
anti-Oprah
rant
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
and
JEFF
KAROUB
apnews.com
DETROIT
- A Kid
Rock-owned
restaurant
in
Detroit’s
Little
Caesars
Arena
will
close
once its
licensing
agreement
expires
this
spring,
the
singer
and
arena
operator
announced
separately
Wednesday.
The
severing
of ties
between
the
suburban
Detroit-born
musician
and
Ilitch
Holdings
came
days
after
video
surfaced
showing
Kid Rock
ranting
against
Oprah
Winfrey,
though
neither
party
tied the
parting
to the
video or
the
backlash
that
followed.
The
split
also
points
to a
widening
estrangement
between
Kid Rock
and the
city he
calls
home.
“I
appreciate
all who
have
patronized
our
place
and
still
have
much
love for
the city
of
Detroit
and the
people/organizations
that I
have
helped
there
for
years,
black,
white,
whatever,
but
learned
long
ago, go
where
you’re
celebrated,
not
tolerated,”
he wrote
Wednesday
on
Facebook.
Kid
Rock’s
Made in
Detroit
opened
in 2017
in
Little
Caesars
Arena,
which is
home to
the
NHL’s
Red
Wings
and the
NBA’s
Detroit
Pistons.
Chris
Granger,
group
president
of
sports
and
entertainment
for
Ilitch
Holdings,
said in
a
statement
that Kid
Rock
“voluntarily
decided”
not to
renew
the deal
for the
restaurant
that
expires
in
April.
He said
the
Ilitch
organization
has been
in
contact
with the
musician.
The
Ilitch
statement
said its
“venues
are
open,
inviting,
inclusive
and
respectful
to all.”
A
spokesman
for Kid
Rock
didn’t
immediately
reply to
a
message
seeking
comment.
Born
Robert
Ritchie,
Kid Rock
grew up
in
Macomb
County,
which is
just
north of
Detroit.
He
performs
hip-hop,
hard
rock,
country
and
Southern
rock
music.
Apparent
cellphone
video
obtained
by TMZ
shows
Ritchie
onstage
last
month at
his
steakhouse
in
Nashville,
Tennessee,
using
graphic
language
to
convey
his
dislike
of
Winfrey
and Joy
Behar,
one of
the
hosts of
the ABC
talk
show
“The
View.”
The
video
later
shows
Ritchie
-- who
appeared
to be
sitting
on the
edge of
the
stage --
being
lifted
up by
security
or
police
officers.
Some
viewed
Ritchie’s
rant as
racist,
including
the Rev.
Charles
Williams
II, who
is the
president
of the
National
Action
Network’s
Michigan
chapter.
He
called
Ritchie’s
behavior
“unacceptable.”
On
Wednesday,
his
group
criticized
Ilitch
Holdings
for
allowing
Kid
Rock’s
restaurant
to ever
open in
the
arena
and
called
on the
company
to
replace
it with
a
minority-owned,
“culturally
competent
restaurant.”
“He
says he
represents
Detroit,
but yet
he uses
this ...
rant to
throw
belligerent
statements
toward
Oprah
Winfrey,”
Williams
said.
“She
does not
deserve
some
low-life
racist
punk
rock
star to
make
these
types of
statements
toward
her and
toward
this
community.
That’s
why we
say
good-riddance.”
In
his
Facebook
post,
Ritchie
wrote:
“I may
be
guilty
of being
a loud
mouth
jerk at
times,
but
trying
to label
me
racist
is a
joke,
and
actually
only
does a
disservice
to the
black
community,
which I
have
supported
my
entire
life, by
trying
to
alienate
myself
and many
others.”
It’s
not the
first
time
Ritchie
has gone
after
Behar,
who is
white.
Last
year, he
used an
expletive
to
describe
the TV
host
during
an
interview
on “Fox
&
Friends.”
Ritchie
also has
been
criticized
in past
years
for
displaying
the
Confederate
flag
onstage
during
performances.
The
National
Action
Network
asked
General
Motors
in 2015
to cut
financial
ties
with Kid
Rock’s
summer
concert
tour if
he
continued
displaying
the flag
during
performances.
In
2011,
the
National
Association
for the
Advancement
of
Colored
People
branch
in
Detroit
honored
Ritchie
for his
philanthropy.
“I’ve
never
flown
that
flag
with any
hate in
my
heart,”
Ritchie
told a
crowd
attending
the
organization’s
annual
fundraising
dinner
that
year.
“Not one
ounce.”
The
head of
the
Detroit
NAACP,
the Rev.
Wendell
Anthony,
said in
a news
release
Tuesday
that the
comments
Ritchie
made in
Nashville
were
“evil
and
divisive”
and that
“some
have
even
called
them
racist
as Oprah
Winfrey
was
called
out
during
the
tirade.”
Anthony
said
some
believe
taking
back the
honor
“would
be a
nice,
symbolic
gesture.”
“We
respect
everyone’s
right to
their
own
opinion,”
Anthony
said.
“However,
symbolism
without
substance
still
cries
out for
fulfillment.
Rather
than go
back to
2011, we
seek to
go
forward
to 2020
and
beyond.”
Sam
Riddle,
political
director
for the
National
Action
Network’s
Michigan
chapter,
called
on
Anthony
to
rescind
the 2011
award,
saying
“Kid
Rock is
the tip
of an
ugly
iceberg
of hate”
and
“when
you
normalize
Kid
Rock,
you’re
normalizing
hate.”