The Detroit chapter of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network plans to protest a string of concerts Kid Rock will give next week. Kid Rock will open the new $860 million Little Caesars Arena by playing six nights in a row starting next Tuesday. From NBC News:

The request to cancel Kid Rock’s concerts came from the National Action Network’s Detroit chapter, which plans a protest next week. The group has previously criticized Kid Rock for displaying the Confederate flag at concerts.

“This is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said the Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the network’s Detroit chapter. “When you hire Kid Rock, who is known to be dog-whistling and cat-calling to white supremacist organizations and the white supremacist community, alt-right, whatever you want to call them, and you take our tax dollars to do that? That’s wrong.”

In May 2011, the NAACP’s Detroit chapter gave Kid Rock an award for his work in the community. About 80 percent of Detroit’s estimated 680,000 residents are black.

Kid Rock has also been critical of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem. At a concert Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the performer gave a speech behind a podium while draped in an American flag. From USAToday:

Playing for a high-energy capacity crowd at Van Andel Arena, the metro Detroit-born star worked up a theatrical, rhyming, profanity-filled stump speech of sorts, knocking everything from “deadbeat dads” to those who “take a knee” during the national anthem.

The speech was preceded by Hail to the Chief and delivered at a podium with a pair of flag-waving female dancers at his side…

He applauded single moms but bemoaned those who “can’t even take care of themselves but keep having kid after … kid.” He blasted those who “call me a racist ‘cause I’m not (politically correct)’,” adding that they “think you have to remind me that black lives matter.”

Kid Rock also had some blunt language for white supremacists: “Nazis, f***ing bigots and now again the KKK? Say screw all you a**holes, stay the f*** away!” He held up both middle-fingers to emphasize the point.

Here’s that very not-safe-for-work portion of his Grand Rapids show. Could this guy really become a Senator? Al Franken somehow did it so I guess anything is possible.

https://youtu.be/8SF7gYInj3Y