Kid Rock thinks that JAY-Z — the man who holds the record for most No. 1 albums for a solo artist, and whose company, Roc Nation, is the official live music strategist for the Super Bowl — was a “DEI hire” by the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell.
“I think back to 2016 when Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest racial injustice and police brutality ,” he told The Ingraham Angle on FOX News. “Goodell had a problem on his hands back then and he asked how do I get out of this and keep making the tens of millions of dollars a year that I make in a predominantly male, Black league. So he goes, ‘Well, maybe JAY-Z will do it.’ I respect his music and his hustle, but he seems kind of like a DEI hire.”
Kid Rock then attempted a rambling segue to how the league office used to be classified as a not-for-profit organization until the time of mumble mumble (it was 2015, more than a year before Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem). He also called the NFL’s back-to-back selections of Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny as halftime performers a “middle finger to conservatives, to the MAGA crowd, to my base, everything.” If you’d like, you can watch the segment below.
On Sunday Kid Rock headlined Turning Point USA’s alternative halftime show. The off-kilter event had viewers wondering if he was lip-synching, but Mr. Rock clarified that no, he was just “out-of-sync.” Though since the show was pre-taped, you have to wonder why he didn’t just re-tape it.
Kid Rock: Nothing against Jay-Z… But it seems like there's a little bit of a DEI hire there going on. pic.twitter.com/E4VFvkHmkq
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 10, 2026
