Musician Kid Rock was condemned on social media for urging Israel to threaten to kill tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians as part of an aggressive campaign to compel the release of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
The Grammy winner (real name: Robert James Ritchie) made the remarks during a three-hour interview with podcaster Joe Rogan on Thursday.
According to Kid Rock, the conflict in Gaza won’t end unless Israel takes more extreme measures.
“The only wars we won were f***ing ones where we were the most brutal motherf***ers on the planet,” the rocker said on the “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Kid Rock said Israel should threaten to kill 30,000 to 40,000 Palestinian civilians every 24 hours until Hamas returns the Israeli hostages.
“I don’t disagree with what Israel is doing,” he said. “It’s like, they should just go in there and be like, ‘You know what? We want our hostages back. If we don’t have them back, clock starts now. And in f***ing 24 hours, we’re going to start bombing motherf***ers and killing f***ing civilians, 30-, 40,000 a f***ing time.
“‘So you civilians better f***ing pack up and f***ing get these f***ing motherf***ers. And you go against Hamas. You f***ing go against them. We’re not playing f***ing games with you.’”
“This is what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima,” the musician said, referring to the Japanese cities hit with U.S. atomic bombs during World War II.
Rogan pushed back.
Do you agree with Kid Rock?
“You’re not supposed to pick civilian targets,” he said. “That’s actually a war crime.”
Kid Rock retorted, “You can’t fight war like that!”
“But you’re not supposed to pick civilian targets,” Rogan repeated.
The conversation continued for about seven minutes.
Kid Rock ignited immediate backlash for his callous disregard for civilian lives.
Kid Rock advocates for killing “30,000 – 40,000 civilians at a time” if Israel don’t get their hostages back.
What a sicko.— Laurence (Larry) Boorstein (@LarryBoorstein) February 25, 2024
Horrific statement from Kid Rock, he should be ashamed.
— Kurious (@CuriousNetEng) February 25, 2024
Wow. He needs to change his name to Kid Genocide
— Thomas Paine Band (@ThomasPaineBand) February 26, 2024
The latest conflict in the Middle East erupted four months ago when Iran-backed Hamas terrorists launched rockets into Israel and stormed into the country from the Gaza Strip. About 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 250 were taken hostage.
Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising, “The enemy will pay an unprecedented price” for the attack.
After months of war in Gaza, Hamas still has around 130 hostages in captivity, a figure that includes the remains of about two dozen people who were killed, according to The Washington Post.
Kid Rock is a patriot who has fearlessly advocated common-sense, “America first” policies despite being viciously maligned by leftists.
Like many Americans, he supports Israel and wants the hostages to be released.
However, calling for the threatened slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians is wrong. Targeting civilians is cowardly and represents a war crime.
Many people condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack because civilians were killed, so it would be hypocritical not to rebuke Kid Rock for promoting the same thing.
