So how do we feel about Kid Rock playing the NHL All-Star Game?
It’s become de rigeur for any major sporting event to include some kind of superstar musical entertainment. In the case of the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, the league has chosen Kid Rock to perform.
The 2018 @Honda #NHLAllStar Game will feature @KidRock as the headlining entertainment! pic.twitter.com/rhwYqjr4Em
— NHL (@NHL) January 17, 2018
Let’s unpack this choice:
Pros:
- He’s sold 35 million records, so he’s a genuine superstar get. That might help TV ratings.
- Kid Rock is from Detroit. He grew up watching the Red Wings.
- The game is set for Tampa on January 28. Kid Rock plays well to Florida crowds. (Insert your own analysis of Florida being the home to a lot of rednecks and as America’s vestigial penis-shaped pus organ.)
- He used to be married to Pamela Anderson, a Vancouver native who was discovered when she appeared on the Jumbotron at a BC Lions game wearing a beer t-shirt. If she was a fan of the Lions, she had to be a fan of the Canucks. That has to count for something. Sort of.
- He…uh… That’s all I got.
Cons:
- He’s a hardcore Trump supporter (not necessarily a bad thing in Florida.)
- He proudly displays the Confederate flag when he plays live (again, not a bad thing for a lot of Floridians).
- He likes to drop plenty of f-bombs onstage (a potential trainwreck situation that might help TV ratings).
- There’s a risk he may bring these people with him.
Twitter doesn’t like the idea for a number of very valid reasons.
Y’all, I’m gonna say something buckwild here but I don’t think the NHL can tout that #HockeyisforEveryone while also hiring Kid Rock who said “Why, these days, is everything so gay?” But hey, I’m sure it’s just another one of those teachable moments right @YouCanPlayTeam?
— historian cole (@historiancole) January 17, 2018
NHL: Why don’t any women, minorities, or people under 40 watch our sport?
Also NHL: Let’s book Kid Rock to be the main entertainment for our biggest event of the year!!
— Mike (@DeetoDC) January 17, 2018
NHL exec: “Hey! Let’s unnecessarily align ourselves with a divisive performer in a politically sensitive time in exchange for songs at an intermission event that no one cares about for a sport that is generally not political.”
All: “this sounds like a good risk reward trade-off”— Birdie Num Nums (@BirdieNumNums_1) January 17, 2018
WTF are you doing @NHL? pic.twitter.com/IomiXQrjwb
— Danny (@recordsANDradio) January 17, 2018
I’ve never seen NHL fans so united on anything. Congrats NHL. You’re awful.
— Chris the Bearded (@barskchr) January 17, 2018
I just hope Kid Rock brings the rest of the Traveling Wilburys with him when he plays the @NHL All Star Game pic.twitter.com/HQ2AM8jro9
— Rob Hoadley (@robhoadley) January 17, 2018
Hey @NHL, did you actually discuss inviting Kid Rock to perform at the ASG or was it an intern error?
— Jason Kay (@JKTHN) January 17, 2018
You couldn’t just give auston matthews a kazoo and have kessel play the spoons huh
— hockey hurts (@MyIslanders) January 17, 2018
artists the nhl could have booked for all star weekend instead of kid rock:
– literally any elvis impersonator
– the jonas brothers
– the ghost of frank sinatra
– a roomba with an ipod attached to it— aspiring bachelor contestant (@goalietandem) January 17, 2018
Were Limp Bizkit and Creed busy that day
— Trusted Hockey Man (@50_MissionCap) January 17, 2018
Kid rock to play the #NHLAllStar game…. every #Hockey fan right now… pic.twitter.com/d07L2y5ZHE
— All Beard No Teeth (@ABNTHockey) January 17, 2018
