Kid Rock was interviewed recently on “Jesse Waters Primetime” via Fox News. Throwaway back-and-forth banter about Halloween costumes, however, has angered officials at The Special Olympics.
Rock asked Waters, “So what are you gonna be for Halloween?” The host said, “So my whole family is doing Scooby Doo. My son is gonna be Scooby Doo. I’m gonna be Shaggy. So I’m gonna kinda dress like you. Big baggy clothes, long hair. Have a little flask while I walk around.”
Kid Rock laughed and then held up a mask saying, “Guess what I’m gonna be?” He then dropped the R-word twice, referencing mask mandates that happened during the pandemic.
Loretta Claiborne of The Special Olympics issued a statement saying: “The R-Word deeply demeans and harms people with intellectual disabilities. I’m writing to you personally with an urgent request: Please acknowledge the hurt caused and use this moment to stand with us in rejecting that word and the prejudice it represents.”
She continued: “Words like ‘ret*rded’ and ‘ret*rd have a long, painful history of being used to belittle and dehumanise. When anyone, especially someone in the public eye uses them, it reopens wounds that so many of us have worked so hard to heal. You have the chance to turn this incident into a statement of strength, to acknowledge the harm, to stand with people with intellectual disabilities, and to help lead the conversation toward greater understanding and respect.”
Kid Rock’s controversial clip can be viewed below.
