***WARNING, some foul language in quotes and images included in this article.****
Kid Rock has never been afraid to speak his mind on any topic, whether it be music or politics. During the election season this year, Rock made it crystal clear which candidate he supported, and why. Speaking to Rolling Stone in February, Rock admitted he was a supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“I’m digging Trump. I feel like a lot of people, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, feel like if you get Hillary or Bernie, or you get Rubio or Cruz or whoever, there’s going to be the same s***,” he said.
Rock’s views never wavered, and he’s fully showing his support for now-President-elect Trump with a new line of merchandise. After a photoshopped image of Rock circulated of him wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt, Rock was flooded with questions from fans about where they could purchase the shirts. After being asked about it so many times, Rock decided to go ahead and create the shirts to sell in his online merchandise store.
Rock shared the original photoshopped image of the shirt on Twitter, which has a not-so-nice thing to say about the states who voted “blue” in the election.
Due to overwhelming demand, we decided to go ahead and actually make this & other current event merch: https://t.co/7sQgqk0SLk pic.twitter.com/0PukiHvHCb
— KidRock (@KidRock) December 5, 2016
The above shirt is one of three pro-Trump shirts fans can now purchase on Rock’s website along with a hat saying “Make America Bad— Again.” You can see the merchandise on his store here.
As to be expected, Rock’s new line of merchandise has caused a bit of controversy. One record label is especially displeased about the whole thing, and vocalized their thoughts about it on social media.
According to Loudwire, Rock was recently announced as one of the headliners at the Northern Invasion Festival in Wisconsin in May 2017. One of the other bands who will be playing at the festival is Bad Omens, whose record label is Sumerian Records. Once they learned about Rock’s new line of merchandise, Sumerian Records wasted no time in sharing their feelings about it with their followers.
In an Instagram post, Sumerian Records posted the same photoshopped image of Rock wearing his newly-designed shirt above. In their caption, Sumerian Records wrote that they want everyone to be aware of the fact that Rock is selling these shirts. They then told their followers that the message Rock is promoting “is the opposite of rock & roll and everything our music represents.”
Sumerian Records went on to write that no matter what a person’s politics may be, everyone should be accepting and respectful of differing opinions.
“This post is not about who you voted for. It’s about accepting each other knowing there will be different opinions rather than generalizing and bashing millons (sic) of fellow Americans…This type of hate should not be tolerated in our community.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BN-ivHAhVQ6/?taken-by=sumerianrecords
As much controversy as Rock has generated right now, he’s also been receiving immense praise in recent days for a new song he released. As a longtime supporter of our nation’s military, Rock teamed up with rock band The Trews to pay tribute to our troops in a new song called “Highway of Heroes.” You can watch that song’s music video below.