What to Know
Unfortunately, creepy clips from the early 2000s are not uncommon. But amid the controversy surrounding this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, a disturbing one involving Kid Rock has resurfaced on social media. In the clip, which is from a 2001 Saturday Night Live appearance, Kid Rock makes a joke about waiting for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who were 14 years old at the time, to turn 18. Meanwhile, he was 30 years old.
Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, says in the clip, “Why is every guy in America waiting for these chicks to turn 18? I mean, you know what I say: If there’s grass on the field, play ball!”
Of course, people are absolutely disgusted by this.
Reacting to the clip on Reddit, people called the joke “horrific,” “revolting,” “scary,” and “dystopian.” Someone called it “one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard.” Understandably so. At the same time, many pointed out that talking about girls in this way was somewhat “normalized” at the time, which is also super disturbing. Thinking back to the era when men felt like they could make “jokes” like that and get away with it, people called it “a dark time” and a “horrible [time] to be a preteen/teen.”
Even though everyone agreed that the predatory behavior was absolutely appalling and inexcusable, some argued that (unfortunately) other people were involved in the creation of this horrible “joke.” One person said, “This is gross and disgusting and so is Kid Rock, but the main blame should be to SNL since this would be from their writers.” And another person added, “That was a nasty time where jokes like that were common and accepted, unfortunately.”
But others argued that there’s no reason to defend him at all.
The clip has resurfaced amid concerns about some of Kid Rock’s lyrics. As one person on Reddit wrote, “Yet he wrote a song around this time about lusting after underage girls. Let’s not pretend he was against this sort of statement.” And yeah, maybe he didn’t write that SNL joke, but he did release his song “Cool, Daddy Cool” that same year. In that song, he sings, “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage. See some say that’s statutory.” Then, the late Joe-C then chimes in with, “But I say it’s mandatory.”
Kid Rock was the headliner for Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” which some conservatives tried to frame as a family-friendly alternative to Bad Bunny’s actual Super Bowl halftime show. Even in the days following the Super Bowl, MAGA supporters have taken to social media to complain about the English translations of Bad Bunny’s lyrics, since he performs in Spanish. But others fail to see how Kid Rock is a “family-friendly” alternative. “The same people that worship [Kid Rock] have an issue with someone singing about consensual adult sex in Spanish,” one Redditor wrote.
