Kid Rock Accepts NAACP Award: 'I Love Black People!'

Kid Rock made nice on Sunday night with some kind words and, perhaps more importantly, major big buck donations.

The rock star accepted the NAACP Detroit branch's Great Expectations Award despite protests against his frequent use of the Confederate flag in his music videos and concerts.

"It's a slap in the face for anyone who fought for civil rights in this country," Adolph Mongo, head of Detroiters for Progress and a boycotting NAACP member complained to the Detroit News in March, when it was announced that Kid Rock would receive the award. "It's a symbol of hatred and bigotry."

In accepting the award, Rock defended his use of the flag, saying (via Billboard.com), "I've never flown that flag with hate in my heart, not one ounce."

That echoed his 2008 defense of his use of the flag, when he said it was about his southern pride, not any racist intent.

"Why should someone be able to own any image and say what it is?" he said in an interview with The Guardian. "Sure, it's definitely got some scars, but I've never had an issue with it. To me it just represents pride in southern rock'n'roll music, plus it just looks cool."

Also helping to smooth relations: while accepting the award, Kid Rock announced a total of $100,000 in charitable donations, split between local Detroit charities and the Red Cross' cleanup efforts in the tornado-swept south.

For more, click over to Billboard.com.

Comments

[Stategirl]

02:46 PM on 05/04/2011

Rock on Kid. Mayor Bing is hanging in there, and people are coming together. Do we dare hope that Detroit could bounce back? Please people, stop hanging on to the racism, and let us be in 2011. A whole new generation is here, and we are all in this together.

[Cakey4814]

08:42 AM on 05/04/2011

Did he turn around and pat that grinning man on the head after his declaration of "love for Black people"?

[crom14]

08:17 AM on 05/04/2011

Seeing him on Piers Morgan a few months ago was neat. He is a honest and real man. He loves America and his loyalty to his son and the state of Michigan was admirable.
Many in S. Carolina are still flying the Confederate everyday. Check it out.
Until we do not see color this world will have too much hate. Never understood hatred.
Detroit needs all the support it can get in the world. It is crumbling.

[missgigi2001]

12:33 AM on 05/04/2011

So what if Kid Rock has a black son? Where is the mother? Did he ever marry her? No! If he loved his black child so much, he would have married the childs mother. The confederate flag is not supposed to look cool. But since he says it's only supposed to look cool and has no meaning to him I'm supposed to believe that. Many slave owners flew the same flag in all their glory and still had babies with their slaves. And the NAACP needs to be ashamed. They give Kid Rock and award for giving $100,000 dollars???? WHATEVER!

[Joe Todd]

07:30 AM on 05/04/2011

Wow, did you read any of the stories at all? He said the flag is a representation (to him) of southern rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd in particular. What is wrong with that? Why must everything have some sort of racial component for some people? And just because you don't marry the mother of your child doesn't mean you don't love your child. You seem to be a little confused on how things work. It seems your racism is being shown when you express your outrage that he received an award from a black organization. Why would that bother you so much? Maybe you need to evaluate your own feelings before getting on here and saying basically he's a racist and the NAACP should be ashamed, when obviously you don't know the whole story or read it for that matter

[dmorris311]

07:52 AM on 05/04/2011

first ignorant read of the day...

[JamesAndre]

12:26 AM on 05/04/2011

If people want to make nice, get out of the way and let them.

[lovbug]

11:23 PM on 05/03/2011

Well, he has a black child so he better. his child is mix b&w.

[Jaslene]

11:17 PM on 05/03/2011

Well, his first son is half black so, I'm sure he doesn't have an issue with black people at all. He really couldn't because of his 13 or 14 year old son. He also had a black female drummer and backup singers as well, so I don't think he has an issue with black people. I can't really jump on this man's back about whether or not he likes black people. You don't have to like black people or any other race cause it's your choice, but don't be racist. Keep it to yourself.

[AmyRenee]

10:13 PM on 05/03/2011

WE DONT LOVE YOU!!!!! He's another Marky Mark, Justin Timberlake type of person. Live in and PRETEND to embrace our culture and when they've had enough or the 'heat is turned on' they scatter like roaches. Good Riddance.

[tippisheadrun]

10:09 PM on 05/03/2011

I despise the veneration of the confederate flag and Kid Rock using it to look "cool" is about as smart as Jesse James saying a Swatztika looks cool. On the other hand, Native American culture is routinely expropriated and abused with nary a whisper of objection by the general population.

I have been mildly surprised in the past two days to see no objections to the use of the code name Geronimo for the special operation to kill bin Laden. Geronimo was an Apache warrior who is revered today by Native Americans and would be considered by many to be a Native American hero. I was stunned when I heard the code name and I find it hard to believe that native people didn't have the same reaction.

[Widespread Panic]

09:34 PM on 05/03/2011

Personally I find him so irrelevant that I just don't really care what he believes. Maybe that's wrong, but I just really don't.

[maxfax]

08:48 PM on 05/03/2011

Kid needs to stick with the singing, forget talking.

[leorangerie]

07:54 PM on 05/03/2011

Kid Rock, meet Donald Trump. You two should really hook up because you both have so many black best friends. It's amazing.

[ElBruce]

06:43 PM on 05/03/2011

Everybody get out your swastikas, we're taking it back!

[bestmeyet]

06:24 PM on 05/03/2011

NEWS FLASH!!!

New reality show seeks 5 White Males and 5 White Females (of all ages) in the new show called "Trading Spaces" It is a take on the book and movie "Black Like Me" each person would be transformed into an African American for 1 week w/ the use of new a Rx that darkens the skin and produces extreme amounts of melanin (last for 1 week).

Anyone want to sign up...?

[denise4925]

06:02 PM on 05/03/2011

Where's the part where he says, "I love black people"?

[PaddockGirl]

09:45 PM on 05/03/2011

I was looking hard for it too! lol