Activists: Kid Rock should denounce Confederate flag

DETROIT -- About a dozen members of a Detroit activist group called for Kid Rock to distance himself from the Confederate battle flag at a protest Monday morning in front of a museum where an exhibit bears the country-hip-hop-rock superstar's name.

The controversial flag, flown by the South during the Civil War and associated with racism and slavery, has previously appeared in photos with the musician from Michigan. Robert James Ritchie, 44, has always been a fan of Southern rock and has performed in front of the Confederate flag — as well as the American flag.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network and pastor at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, issued a statement Monday calling for Ritchie to keep the flag out of his performances.

Williams at the demonstration called Kid Rock "the home-town hero who is a zero with the Confederate flag" and asked museum officials to take his name off the exhibit Kid Rock funded if he doesn't denounce the flag.''

He and others met this morning outside the Detroit Historical Museum on Woodward Avenue.

"How in the hell can Kid Rock represent Detroit and wave that flag just generating millions and millions in ticket sales -- a flag that represents genocide to most of Detroit?" asked Sam Riddle, political director of the National Action Network.

The group is calling for Kid Rock to remove any images of the flag from his shows and merchandise and to publicly take a stand against the flag.

About a dozen protesters also called on the museum to make sure there are no Confederate flags in Kid Rock's music exhibit at the museum. The exhibit highlights 100 years of Detroit music.

If Kid Rock doesn't take a stand, they said, the group would call for a boycott of the museum.

In 2011, Rock received the Great Expectations Award from the Detroit Branch NAACP, calling it "by far the coolest award I've received."

With protesters outside the event that night, Rock addressed the controversy briefly on stage.

"I never flew that flag with any hate in my heart," Rock the crowd at 56th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, noting that he had embraced it as a Southern rock tribute.

The Free Press reached out to Rock's staff in June amid national controversy about the flag. Staff didn't specifically address the issue at the time. Messages this morning were not immediately returned.

But at Monday's press event, Williams said an image has circulated recently of Kid Rock with a flask emblazoned with the Confederate flag.

About a half-dozen Network members returned Saturday from South Carolina, having attended funerals for some of the shooting victims.

"We don't need implements of destruction, slavery, racism, sedition, traitors -- all these things," said Gloria Mills, a retired educator and Network board member.

It isn't immediately clear whether any of Kid Rock's performances this year have included the flag. Kid Rock's publicist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kid Rock has always been a fan of Southern rock acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd – he sampled Sweet Home Alabama in his song All Summer Long. He has performed that song in particular in front of the Confederate flag, according to a June 23 report in USA Today.

Ritchie's Kid Rock Foundation previously donated to the museum, and its Kid Rock Music Lab features interactive exhibits recognizing the city's music legacy including gospel, Motown, techno, hip hop and more.

Politicians and businesses across the United States have distanced themselves from the Confederate flag in the wake of the June 17 shooting of nine black people by a white man in a historic Charleston, S.C., AME church.

People who support the Confederate flag have said it's flown with respect to heritage. In the 1860s, the flag represented Southern states rebelling in what's known as the deadliest war in American history, over slavery. It continues to be flown outside the South Carolina Capitol.

Williams said in his statement that NASCAR and the state of Virginia, among others, have removed or denounced the flag, and "this is a great time for Kid Rock to let it go also."

Chevrolet is sponsoring Ritchie's summer tour and issued this statement today:

"We are committed to our sponsorship of Kid Rock's summer tour and are confident that he will provide his fans, many of whom are proud Chevrolet owners, with a spectacular concert experience that celebrates American Freedom."

In 2011, when Rock, who also performs as a rapper, received an award from the Detroit NAACP, protestors picketed outside the event and burned a Confederate flag.

Contributing: Greg Gardner and Brian McCollum