Civil rights group targets Kid Rock over comments about Colin Kaepernick

A civil rights group is protesting the choice of potential Senate candidate Kid Rock as an opening act for a new stadium in predominantly black Detroit over the singer’s support of the Confederate flag and criticism of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The National Action Network’s Detroit chapter is calling for Kid Rock’s concerts at the new Little Caesars Arena to be canceled and is planning a protest against the musician next week, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Kid Rock, who is supposedly considering a run for Senate as a Republican in Michigan, has drawn criticism over his support of President Trump and his use of the Confederate flag, as well as his criticism of Kaepernick for his protest of the national anthem during the past NFL season.

{mosads}“You know what? F–k Colin Kaepernick,” Kid Rock said during a concert in Iowa last month. The NFL player has earned criticism for refusing to stand during the national anthem at football games last season.

“These are moments where you have to act as a matter of character and state what your values are,” Peter Hammer, the director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, told the AP. “Everything now is becoming symbolic. That means we have to choose our symbols carefully.”

“Everything is different post-Charlottesville,” he said of the white supremacist rally that turned violent in the Virginia town last month. 

Christopher Ilitch, the president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, which owns the company managing the arena, told the AP he “can’t control what any artist does or says.”

“I will always demand that our companies strive to do right by Detroit, our community and its people,” Ilitch said.

The National Action Network was founded by Rev. Al Sharpton.

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