Kid Rock Calls Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show the ‘Epitome of DEI Blowing Up,’ Says He’s ‘Got to Respect It’

Kid Rock showed some respect for Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. He also said he doesn’t think it would’ve happened without the NFL’s DEI initiatives.

“To put it nicely, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I got to respect it,” he told Maher on the Valentine’s Day episode of Real Time. “And here’s why. You know, I grew up loving, emulating hip-hop, all things hip-hop — break dancing, deejaying, graffiti, rapping, and so I understand the culture a little bit more than most. And when I say most, of course, I mean white people.”

Kid Rock continued, “So when you’re watching it, after, there’s a lot of things going through your head. You know, everyone’s like, ‘That sucked,’ this, that and the other. I’m like, man, this kid pretty much came out figuratively with both middle fingers in the air, doing what he does for the people who love what he does, unapologetically. And I don’t think he gives a frog’s fat a– what anyone thinks about it.”

“So I go, huh, it’s pretty much how I built my whole career. I gotta respect it,” said Kid Rock, who recently performed in support of Donald Trump’s inauguration and said the president is “one of the greatest men to ever walk the Earth” and “screams ‘American Badass,’ just by the way he walks,” and professed his love for Trump again during his conversation with Maher on Friday.

Kid Rock then attempted to theorize how Lamar — a frequent Billboard chart topper and 22-time Grammy Award winner, and the top Grammy winner this year (with five wins, including record and song of the year) — got invited to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which made history as the most-watched Halftime Show of all time, with 133.5 million viewers.

“How did he get there?” he wondered out loud. “I’ve heard nobody answer this question. How did he get that gig? Jay-Z. What happened there? I think Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar should both send Colin Kaepernick a Bundt cake and a six-pack of beer and a ‘thank you’ note with a bunch of money in it because without him kneeling and getting everyone’s panties in a bunch over the anthem, self-included, I don’t think that happens.”

Maher started to move the conversation along at that point, but Kid Rock kept going.

“And by the way, one more point,” Kid Rock said. “This was the epitome of DEI blowing up. Because the NFL was all this DEI, end racism, all this stuff. They got Jay-Z in there booking this. Kendrick Lamar goes out there and basically turns DEI into an IED. It’s all Black people, or all people of color, speaking to his crowd, in the hood, Black people. It was like the most exclusive thing ever and I’m like, ‘F— yeah, that’s awesome.’ I’m laughing my a– off.”

Later in Friday’s interview, when asked his about thoughts on democrats, Kid Rock reminded Maher he’d also once performed (but didn’t vote) for Barack Obama, and told him, “Half my band’s liberal, or gay, or Black, or this. I have one of the most diverse bands out there. Not because of this DEI s—. Just because they’re the best at what they do. We all love each other and get along.”

As the conversation shifted over to Kid Rock’s upcoming tour dates, he spoke of the need for an upheaval in the concert ticket business. The TICKET Act, a ticketing reform law meant to clean up the concert industry, was recently revived in the U.S. Senate after nearly becoming law in 2024. The TICKET Act would introduce mandatory all-in pricing, require refunds for canceled events and ban speculative ticket sales.

“In the last however long, it’s complete horse s—,” Kid Rock said of what it’s currently like to purchase a concert ticket, adding that “the customers get screwed.”

“What we have to really look at right now is what’s going on in some of these European markets, like France. They basically put a price cap on reselling a ticket of like 10 or 15%,” he suggested.

In another clip from the show, which aired during the “Overtime” segment and can be watched below, Kid Rock confirmed that he’s got a gospel album in the works.

“Early beginnings now,” he told Maher. “Doing a gospel album with my old friend Rick Rubin.”

Rubin previously produced Kid Rock’s 2010 album Born Free, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.