The Tucker Carlson Show - Kid Rock

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Tucker and Kid Rock talk about his beef with Bud Light, watching UFC with President Trump and his summer tour coming to small town America. For more information, visit http://www.tuckercarlson.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a point at which Kid Rock went from being a musician to an icon to a one-man movement and that's a friend of ours and that was the moment we want to sit down once again with him in studio and check in on how he's doing changing america great to see you great to see you so uh i remember doing my text right before bed one night and i read that bud light has decided to go tranny that's kind of distressing the next day with like 12 hours later you release the video of you executing the Bud Light with the carbine. Fuck Bud Light and fuck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.

And then months later, Bud Light effectively apologizes, doesn't go out of business, closes two bottling plants. But it is terrible for the guys who work there. But then comes back and hands the UFC $100 million basically to say, we're sorry, we will get better. That seems like a win to me. I think it could be. I think they got some work still to get, you know,

some of that base that they lost. I think to get them back, I've said a few times, I'd love to see them get triple fratty. Hit it head on, kind of make light of the situation, self-deprecation. But at the end of the day, when you step back and look

at it, yeah, they deserved a black eye and they got one. They made a mistake. How did you know you moved so fast on that? I mean, a lot of of things going on it's like a lot of people just pissed me off i was and i kept you know i keep a lot of beer on the property a lot of light beer the blood light was one of them and uh i was like i know who my consumers are yeah i was doing a little marketing to my folks you know it was spot on for me but also a fun excuse to get my machine going i don't have some fun but also to make excuse to get my machine gun out and have some fun, but also to make a statement like, hey, a lot of us aren't cool with this.

I believe a lot of people fought and died for people's right to be whoever they want. But when you're that type of brand, you know who your consumers are. You know how this kind of started, I think, when I thought about it? They moved part of their corporate offices from St. Louis to New York City. Yeah, they did. Okay. Then they start hiring these Ivy League progressive people you know, people to work for them who don't know shit about working class people or middle America in this country.

Unhappy women, yeah. And so somebody wasn't watching the hen house. They're riding high and mighty as number one and a fox gets in. Yes, it was a mistake. So do I want to hold their head underwater and drown them because they made a mistake? No, I think they got the message. Like, hopefully other companies get it too. But, you know, at the end of the day, I don't think the punishment that they've been getting at this point fits the crime.

It's like, I would like to see people get us back on board and become bigger because that's the America I want to live in. Well, it's better to improve than destroy. Yeah. So that seems like a win. We were talking to this off camera and you said, what would that say about us as like-minded people? Yeah. Who were like, hey, cut cut it out what's the matter with you that you know if we brought them back up you know that's kind of the america i want to live in like it's not wrong with giving a spanking you know the kid does something wrong and tries you know maybe he's gonna harm themselves

but he'll spank him for the rest of their life he kind of you know someone gets taught a lesson they say we made a mistake all right man let's move I mean, we've done it for, uh, we've done it for a whole lot worse. What about Japan, Germany? You drop two atom bombs on Japan, then you rebuild it. Then you become allies. Can't say it enough. You know, who's getting hurt in all this boycotts and stuff when people make mistakes, this cancel culture crap. It's the working class people who don't have any dog in the fight. Yeah. It's like, all right, we don't want to hurt these people. You know, message sent. All right, let's move on.

Here's a bag of ice. Put it on that shiner. Let's talk about it. I noticed that is not a Bud Light you're drinking. I saw that getting poured. Have you had one since this all started? Dude, my whole life has become Bud Light. I got it stacked in the ceiling.

It's because every one of my friends thinks it's a joke to bring me a 12-pack. So you just got a lot of free beer out of it. Yeah, or shove them in my golf bag. You know, they pop up everywhere. It's kind of become, you know, a fun thing for my friends to mess with me on. But, you know, I'll drink any kind of cold, free beer. Let's put it that way. So that's like your main criterion, cold, free.

Cold and free. Trump. You've seen Trump a lot recently. How's he doing? Tough as son of a bitch on the earth. He's doing great. It's incredible. You know, we just got to spend some time with him.

Yeah. But you seem to be having more fun than anybody. I was having fun. I was having fun. You watch that video back, we're walking in the ring, everyone's looking all tough. You're like, ha, ha, ha. You're like, this is the greatest day of my life. I loved it. Which was, that was so having fun. You watched that video back when we were walking in the ring, and it was looking all tough. You're like, ha, ha, ha, ha. You're like, this is the greatest day of my life.

I loved it. Which was, that was so much fun. It was amazing. I love spending time with him, getting to know him. You know, since he became president, the first few months, having dinner at the White House with him. And from there on, we've just really hit it off. And I can relate to him in a lot of ways.

He's somebody who might speak out of turn a little bit. He'll say what's on his mind. But I think if you look at his track record and who he is as a whole, there's a lot more good there than anything. I think people, you know, I could go both ways. I always say with me, you can go on the Internet and you can make me out to be some crazy wild party animal who just has his middle fingers in the air and doesn't care. Or you can be someone who has a single father, loves his family, loves his country, does a lot of philanthropy. It's all there for the taking.

And, you know, I try to see the good in people. I haven't always executed that correctly or in one spot. But, you know, whatever it is, when I give it, it's 100% real. Well, so without, like, betraying the details of your conversations, you've been with Trump a bunch of times since he got indicted and the world has kind of crashed in around him. How does he seem?

Can't tell. Really? I mean, when we're golfing or we're hanging out in different scenarios here and there, his spirits are always up and he's always talking about this country. He's always talking about this country and how he wants to win for it.

He likes to win at anything. Yeah, that's true. Anything. When we're golfing, like, you know, I won $100 from him at the UFC. I don't think he was too happy about it. What'd you bet on? We were betting on fights. You know, we're just picking guys, you know, to make it more interesting.

Yeah. And, man, somebody that's in that office, in any office, that wants to win for this country, I'm in. I've never seen anybody that wants to win for this country like that guy. I don't think we'll ever see anything like it in our lifetime. For me, he's the greatest president we've had. And he's unaffected, in your experience, by everything that's happening. Is he pissed off? Sure. Yeah, but he doesn't seem broken at all.

I don't want to speak out of school, you know, but, you know, yeah. Who's not going to hem and haw a little bit about the people that are doing this to him? You know, these people in New York. It's a freaking joke. Yeah. I mean, one Google search on Zillow, property in Palm Beach. There's like a couple acres that comes up on the water. It's $200 million.

And they're like, Mar-a-Lago's only worth $17 million. It's like, well, you are a stupid son of a bitch if you say that. Yeah. You know, he gives out, he takes loans from the bank, whatever. He pays them all back. Everybody makes money. There's no crime here. It's completely, anybody who can't see, they're fucking with him.

It's just blinded. I know the guy speaks out of turn a little bit, says some things. I can relate. Yes. I do it myself quite often because I just say what's on my mind, and I can relate. Yes. I do it myself, you know, quite often because I just say what's on my mind. And I can get that. But I don't know how you look at his track record and what he did and how he had this country fired on all cylinders when he was in office.

Everybody working, you know, military is the strongest. He's leading with, you know, strength and borders, you know, under control, just energy independent. You know, he could go on and on. I don't get it. You know, I understand because it seems like it's a lot of women, like, in my life and stuff. They're like, I don't like the way he talks. It's like, come on.

You're not putting him in the office to hear him talk nice. How many years have we had of that? People that, it seems like everybody, you know, because everything is very polarized. I get it. And speaking of Bud Light, it's like, I wish those guys could take this opportunity. Maybe they could start a little civil discourse with the negative that's happened to them.

Maybe they could figure out a way with that beard to kind of maybe bring people together a little bit. I don't know. I don't think they're going to hire me as the head of their marketing anytime soon. They probably should. Yeah, well. I like my probably should. Yeah. Well, I like my day job.

By the way, did they ever call you after you opened up on them with a machine gun? No, there's been some distributors. Yeah. Who know, you know, who claim they know the people at top and this,

that, and the other. I said, man, I'll sit down with anybody anytime. And, you know, we actually got to talk to the CEO,

me and Trump the other night at the UFC fight. That was there. You stand in mind. I recognize. Yeah, you were there. And I was like, we actually got to talk to the CEO, me and Trump, the other night at the UFC fight. I was there. You were standing behind me. I recognized. Yeah, you were there. And I was like, it's kind of funny. I'm sitting there with Trump. And I'm like, hey, that dude behind us is the CEO of Anheuser-Busch.

He's like, why don't you give him some shit? I'm like, ew. Trump's like, let's go. And actually, it was a really pointy conversation. The dude, that dude, his name's Brendan. He's in the CIA. He was a Marine. Yeah. He says when he got the videos of me shooting up the cans he was hunting in texas i'm like you sound like somebody i'd be friends with like how'd you guys get this so wrong

and you know i hate speaking out of turn when i have conversations with people but i don't think remind this i was like when you did that morning show were you coached and he's like i was i was like fire that fucking person i was like when you did that morning show were you coached and he's like i was i was like fire that fucking person yeah i was like it's terrible i was like they asked you at one point like if you had the chance to send that can again would you send it and you go off in this we've been supporting the abcd lgbq for 25 years i'm like ah what are you doing i'm like you don't have to throw anybody to the bus all you have to is say, while we want everyone to enjoy our beer, we know who our

consumer is, and we got that one wrong. We're going to double down. We hear you. Our bad. Just say that. Everyone would have been like, okay, you still got to eat a little crow. It's like, you know, if you ever had infidelity in your life, it's like, you can't go to the person and just kind of sweep

it under the rug and, you know, buy them a new ring or a car and think it's going to go, well, maybe a car. A car might work out. A guilt mobile. You can't just sweep it

under the rug, throw money at it. I think it's going to go away. At some point, you got to be like, look, I screwed up. I got that one wrong. And then you probably

still got to eat some crow for a while, which I think they have. You know, like I said, it's like, I don't want to be the face of crushing working class people's jobs. Not only their jobs, but their livelihoods. Oh the face of crushing working class people's jobs.

Not only their jobs, but their livelihoods. Oh, I agree. Think about people's livelihoods that work for that company that are just like, Jesus, what happened? I know. They didn't have any fight in it. I hate to see people losing their jobs at any level. Two bottling plants closed.

That's shocking. Because they screwed up. They made a mistake. All right. I'm over it. Like I said, I'm not the type of person to kick a man when he's down. I agree completely. Completely.

How'd you wind up with Dolly Parton? You know, I've known her throughout the years here and there. You know, been friendly with her. She's just one of the greatest people on earth. Really? Oh, you've never met anybody so positive in your life. And, you know, speaking of Dolly, she called me about doing the song. She wrote a song that she wanted to do with me, which ironically is about me cheating on her.

I'm like, huh? Had you ever cheated on her? No, I haven't had the opportunity. I have not been given that opportunity yet. No, she's just the sweetest lady. You know, I just read something on her where I've never heard the word hate come out of her mouth. She just doesn't exist with her. She's just too sweet, too great. And I saw where she said, I hate cancel culture. I mean, that should sum it up right there. I think most people, reasonable people, you got

your small percentage of extremists on both sides of this thing, and they make the most noise, and they get the most headlines because, you know, they're the most polarized, and they get the most clicks and views. I get it. I've played the game a little bit myself. I'm guilty of it. But I think most people, you know, level-headed people with a shred of common sense are sick of all this stuff, this cancel culture and this. You know, God forbid, if you say something that's a little bit wrong or ruffle somebody's, you know, feathers, that you're going to lose your job or your social standing. Do you think it's going away? Do you think it's, like, Do you think it's reached its peak?

I think it has. It's going to be tough with this going into this election year because it's going to get real polarizing again. And I don't think that's a bad thing in politics. It always kind of is. But everything else, it's like all my friends who are Democrats in my business, I have a lot of them. I'm the one that's the diverse one.

Yeah. You're the one that you want inclusion. You know, they don't want to include me, people on their talk shows and all this stuff anymore. It's like, I'm the one that needs inclusion. I'm the weird one here. I don't fit the narrative and in this place of all these Hollywood and entertainers and singers and stuff like that. It doesn't seem to bother you at all, though. No.

But has it affected your relationships? I've never heard you at all, though. No, no. But has it affected your relationships? I've never heard you say that it has. No, I think maybe one relationship. That's about it. But anyone I talk to, I'll go over for dinner. Hang with the things differently. Like, we always find more in common.

I'll be like, I love Trump. They'll be like, I can't stand the guy. I'll be like, cool. You want to move on? Talk about something else? Yeah, all right. We find some other things that are in common. So, I mean,

Dolly Parton took some crap for working with you. She doesn't seem to care. No. I think she handled it beautifully. She's like, I love everybody. Pretty simple answer.

I mean, that's what I took away from it. She said more than that, but I took away, she said she loved everybody. I was really proud to call her a friend at that moment.

I think we need more of that in this country, especially coming from people like me because I know sometimes I am the polarizing one. I think we need more of that in this country, especially coming from people like me, because I know sometimes I am the polarizing one. I am the loudest voice in the room. Well, you do have a machine gun. Oh, yeah, but that's, why wouldn't you?

All right, that sounds really great. Who are you going on tour with this summer? Thank you for asking. So me and Jason Aldean are doing... What's he like? Jason, great kid. Known him for years, since he was first coming up great guy great patriot um talented singer musician so we're going to do seven festivals I see a need

when I partnered with these people uh premier entertainment it's called rock the country rock the country.com I see a need for a big portion of this country that's underserved entertainment wise and that's prettyerved, entertainment-wise. And that's pretty prevalent when you see the success of shows like Yellowstone and Duck Dynasty, things like that. People are just starving for it. So we wanted to go out and give, you know, hardworking people that love this country a music festival. Something for them. Like, you know, come show your patriotism, just like they do at my shows, but do with a force of people.

You know, we got different lineups, and there are seven small towns. What are they? It's places like Ocala, Florida, Mobile, Alabama, Rome, Georgia. There's Kentucky and Carolina. Rock and roll has not been too kind to my memory. That's pretty good, actually. Yeah, it's not bad. But there's seven of them.

Rock the country. And then, Rocket Country, and then we have people like Miranda Lambert on certain shows, Hank Williams Jr., Leonard Skinner, Bradley Gilbert, Travis Tritt, Nelly, Big and Rich with Gretchen Wilson, just a whole cast of characters, which, like I said, just trying to provide something for these smaller towns where we have a lot more freedom to do things that we might not be able to do in the bigger cities and especially to work with the local people there whether it could be the police firefighters the city councils whatever we had all those people actually to my house in nashville

just all get on the same page because we want to make this experience great for these people and i was and we came up with the idea let's have people that want to come from these towns from these states some were senators some were police chiefs, like I said, city council mayors. Let's have them up and break bread and just talk to them, try to get on the same page so we can try to create a great experience for people. Make no mistake, we would like to make some money out of this endeavor. But, you know, we want it to be a win-win. We want the cities to win, you know, try to give back and do something good there.

Well, that's going to sell out. I mean. The pre-sales went on sale today. So seven shows. Does that wear you out? We're also doing... First, I did another business deal with the PBR,

who does the rodeo. Yeah. Professional bull riders. So we're doing Kid Rock's Rockin' Rodeo at AT&T Stadium. Stadium in Dallas. Where we're going to have

rodeo teams compete against each other. And then I'm going to do music. I'm going to try... We're still figuring it out, but I want to make it more creative than some of the rodeos we played in the past, where the rodeo happens and then you play the show. I'd like to kick the show off and have horses ripping around with American flags, play something in the middle.

I'd like to put midgets on mini bowls. Yes! We'll see what happens. Is that allowed in Dallas now? Everything's allowed in Texas. That's true. So that's what we're doing. We're going to play Sturgis again this year, which I've played off and on for the last

20-some years, and that's my year. I think it's nine shows. That's amazing. Work less, make more. So the rodeo, have you ever been on any of the... Have you ridden? We have horses.

I'm not. You're not getting on a bull? No. Getting on a bull, I'm not jumping out of a plane, I'm not going up in the F-16. I'm good. I'll be right here when you get there. You've had enough risk? Yeah.

I've made it this far. I mean, just like big picture, you've not changed your views throughout all this last six years you've been really direct have you lost anything i mean it's it's kind of an amazing story it's kind of funny i always joke i'm like i'll do or say something it's a little outrageous you know it's people's panties in a bunch it's some level and somehow they give me more money for it so you've never you can't i mean you're probably the only person who hasn't changed his views and hasn't been crushed i'm open to changing my views if you know i don't know at all i don't claim to i'm not the pied piper like you haven't you don't seem to be moderating your views on anything you

just know you think i say what i think yeah and I get something wrong, I'm cool enough to go back and be like, yeah, I had that one wrong. I remember when it's happened, but I'm not bigger than that. But, you know, I've been the same way since I was young and since my, we'll call it my first successful, you know, Devil Without a Cause CD came out. And I was running my mouth. There's metal fingers on the CD. I haven't changed. Times have changed. Times have changed a lot. Now you're not allowed to say that or do this.

You have to be politically correct and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, that ain't no fun. So if you just ignore it, it just doesn't affect you? Is that the lesson? You know, I live by my main motto, which a good friend of mine, excuse me, Rev Run, one of my heroes in music, told me years ago from Run dmc go where you're celebrated not tolerated yeah that's what i do that's where i choose to spend my time and you

know and thank god you know i've always been so big about family and friends because it's the oldest cliche at the end of the day that's what's really there for you and i'm blessed every day to have greatest family and greatest friends uh on earth. And I'm glad that I really didn't let all this madness get in the way of that. I've always tried to be there and take care of them. And they've been there for me. And really, that's what it is. And I met some of them. And I think that's right.

But I judge a man by his dogs. Probably can't tell from this camera shot, but you brought a couple of your boykins here. Dixie. Can we meet? You've got two Spaniels here. Can you introduce a couple of your boykins here. Can we meet? You've got two spaniels here. Can you introduce one of them? This is Delta. Down here by you. Okay. Dixie, come here. Dixie's a little one. Come here, Dixie.

So these are boykins. She's a little one. Hey. She's a little one. How old is Dixie? She's old now. Is she 10? That's amazing. She's 10. Do you go everywhere with them? My fiance, Audrey, goes everywhere with them. Are you bringing them on tour?

No. Select cities, maybe. They don't like the tour. Pyro freaks them out a little bit. Well, not Delta. She's trained on birds, so she doesn't mind a big shot. Yeah, I can tell. They're amazing, amazing bird dogs.

If you were to, sort of, since you're pretty good at calling stuff, the next year, like a year from now, will be November 2024. What will things look like? I hope they look like Trump's back in office. I would love that we control Congress. That would be a perfect case scenario for me, but that's so difficult for me. I know what I support and my views, but I'm really not an

Ostradamus when it comes to politics. I don't want to act like I know it all. I do study it. I probably watch a little more news than I should. I got my views, but it's going to be interesting. I just don't see how everyone's talking about they can't run Biden against Trump.

It's impossible. Of course. And if, God forbid, something did go wrong here in Biden, it would be for no other reason than just people's hatred for Trump. Yeah. You know? Why don't people just give up policies? You know, I don't need my president to be a saint. Let's get the job done. We haven't had any of those, I don't think. No. No, I don't need my president to be a saint. Let's get the job done.

We haven't had any of those, I don't think. No. No, I don't think so. I don't know. But you said that if you were Bud Light, you would run a campaign bringing people together over your product. Maybe they should make a blue hat that says, Make Bud Light Great Again.

No, good point. But do you see the division getting better or worse? Honestly, I would hope that it gets a little better. I see that with my friends. Like I said, I don't go around bragging about it. I probably got the most diverse band out there. We have white people, hillbillies. We have black people.

We have gay people.billies we have black people we have gay people we we got it all females men white people and hillbillies in two different categories but you know i see it just with with my band where we all get along we all joke about each other's backgrounds our colors our sexual preferences like we just give each other shit all the time and we get along we're like family we're not one of. Like we just give each other shit all the time. And we get along. We're like family. We're not one of these bands that just sit each other's throats, fight. We all love each other and always have.

We accept that we're all different and we're all just cool. And so I keep saying this. It's like, no one cares if you're gay anymore. We all got gay family members, friends, coworkers. It's like, just shut up about it. Like, I'm not going to like, oh, you're gay. I'm not going to clap louder for you. All right. Just be cool. Be gay. Shut up.

It's fine. No one cares. The transgender thing is just a weird one. It's like, leave our kids out of it, number one. But to me, it looks like a mental illness. That's what I see. But at the same time,

that's who you want to be a lot of people fought and died for it go for it we can exist and you know the same public spaces so be it you know you're not going to be my first call to take out for a night out on the town probably but i'm probably not yours it's fine yeah that's okay and if you're different and you're weird make no mistake you get treated differently. When I was young, I had my hair up to here. I had my pants sagging, running around, you know, talking junk, you know. People gave me crap all the time, you know, but I was trying to be seen.

If you want to be seen and you're going to go out and be different like that and dye your hair blue and put a bunch of nose rings on yourself, people are going to look at you differently. Some people are going to tease you a little bit. You know, whatever happened to sticks and stones? Yeah. You know, everyone's to Sticks and Stones? Yeah. You know, everyone's like, he teased me. I'm going to cancel you and sue you and I'm going to tell on you. I just freaking, it's like we're raising, pardon my language, we're raising like a complete generation of fucking pussies. But that can't go on forever, right?

No, the pendulum always swings. I've seen that, you know, at 52 years old, I've seen that in life. The pendulum swings. Yeah. So last question before we go get a cigar with your friend John Daly. If you were to give advice to, you know, a 22-year-old trying to enter the public sphere right now, what would it be? What sphere? Entertainment-wise?

Either one. You know, you're the guy who wants people to look at you, okay? Well, number one, work your ass off and be good at what you do. Be the best at it. And that takes a lot of time. You know, it took me 15 years, you know, in the trenches, riding around in vans with U-Haul trailers playing every little gig for 50 people, this, that, and the other. You know, it's the old cliche of 10,000 hours. I think it's 20,000. Yeah.

Work your butt off and try to be the best at what you do. Study your craft. Be knowledgeable about it. Surround yourself with good people. Don't hang out with knuckleheads. That doesn't leave too many good spots. No, it doesn't. So, you know.

So, work hard. Don't hang out with shitheads. Yeah, and be good at what you do. Be the best at what you do. Bobby, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Good to see you, man. Pleasure. I'm coming this summer.