Kid Rock‘s full interview with WKRN regarding the unscheduled military flyby over his house this past Saturday, March 28th, has been posted online. That interview was conducted this, March 29th, and found Rock explaining why two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters stopped in and hovered over his Nashville, TN mansion. The noted conservative rap-rock/country icon, and longtime friend of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, has modeled his residence after The White House and refers to it as ‘The Southern White House’.
While military officials initially suspended the aircrew involved, on March 31st U.S. Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth quickly overturned that decision, stating that the pilots were to be reinstated with no punishment or investigation. He added, “Carry on, patriots.”
Rock posted video footage of the incident on his social media over the weekend, captioning the post with a jab at his longtime rival, Californian Governor Gavin Newsom.
“This is a level of respect that shit for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her.”
The apparently unplanned PR stunt of sorts drew praise from Rock‘s supporters as a show of patriotism and support for the U.S. military. However, the incident was also decried by a vocal contingent, citing the flyby as a waste of taxpayer funds and a break of military discipline and regulations.
Explaining how the flyby took place, Rock told WKRN [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“I was sitting right there just having a Saturday morning beer, and I seen the choppers start coming. I was like, ‘Man, it looks like military.’ It’s not the first time they’ve flown over my house; they’re out of Fort Campbell. Which, I was there last Thanksgiving with [U.S. Vice President] JD Vance, and I’ve talked to some of these pilots. I’ve told them, ‘You guys see me waving when you come by the house? You guys are always welcome to cruise by my house, like anytime.’
So they just happened to be coming this way, so I walked over here and I’m like, [waving] ‘Yeah, hell yeah!’ And then they circled back around and came out right over here. I just gave them a salute and kind of a thank you. Man, it was a level of respect that I got that no award or record sales could ever do.
At the end of the day, if it makes their day a little brighter for their service to our country protecting us, I think that’s a great thing — especially when I saw yesterday that there was the ‘No Kings’ thing going down and there’s people flipping them off. I don’t care what your politics are, but come on, man — if you’re flipping our military off, I’m the king of the bird. Like, if you’re flipping our military off, you’re on the wrong side of things, man.
You know, at the end of the day, I thought it was harmless. I thought it was really cool. I was very appreciative of them coming by, and I hope they got a good smile and it made their day a little bit brighter too.”
When it was brought up that the military at the time had been looking into the pilots actions, Rock responded:
“I think they’re gonna be alright, my buddy’s the commander-in-chief [laughs.] I mean what are they looking into? They stopped for seconds —I don’t know, a minute? Maybe they were here 3-4 minutes, you know? Just say ‘what’s up’ and went on. And I’ve told them before up at Fort Campbell — like I said when I was there with JD Vance, our vice president, back on Thanksgiving, I talked to some of them…
‘Cause I see them when they fly the Chinooks, and they go to Nissan Stadium for the football games. They come right over and if I’m here I usually make it a point to [wave] and give ’em a ‘what’s up’, so it’s really not that new. But it was pretty cool to stop right there [and kind of salute.] I wasn’t expecting any of that but I thought it was really neat.”
As for his response to the backlash over the flyby, Rock responded:
‘TDS syndrome. They got TDS syndrome. Which is no new news here. It’s like, we know the half of the country that’s going to love it and say, ‘That’s really cool, that’s great for the military’, and the other half that’s going to go, ‘We’re wasting taxpayers’ money,’ this, that, and the other.
I might remind people — not one to sit here and brag about it — but I’ve done a lot of service… I’ve been to the military in every war country from Afghanistan to Iraq to Kosovo, multiple times. Christmases, Thanksgivings. And I think a lot of these guys and girls know that I’ve done a lot for them because I appreciate what they do for us, so I think they know this is a pretty friendly spot if they want to come by and give a wave when they go by.”
Rock later added:
“To the people who serve our country, same thing I’ve said for years: thank you for your service, and keep on ‘Kid Rockin’ in the free world.”
