Kid Rock Genocide Comments Spark Fury—'Disgusting'

Kid Rock has been criticized on social media after stating during an interview with Joe Rogan that Israel should kill tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians until Hamas returns its remaining hostages.

The Middle East bloodshed erupted on October 7, when Hamas led a surprise attack in southern Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages back to Gaza. Israel's response, massive airstrikes and a ground invasion, has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in the territory, many of them women and children, according to Reuters, citing Gaza's health ministry.

During Thursday's installment of The Joe Rogan Experience, the titular host spoke with Rock about his lingering optimism that the heightened tensions in the region will come to a resolution. However, Rock, whose given name is Robert James Ritchie, put forth a more brutal opinion.

"Only wars we won were f****** ones where we were the most brutal motherf****** on the planet," the musician said. "Which, I don't disagree with what Israel is doing."

He continued: "It's like, they should just go in there and be like, you know what? We want our hostages back," he went on. "If we don't have them back, clock starts now. And f****** 24 hours, we're going to start bombing motherf****** and killing f****** civilians, 30-, 40,000 a f****** time. So you civilians better f****** pack up and f****** get these f****** motherf******. And you go against Hamas. You f****** go against them. We're not playing f****** games with you."

"Yeah but the problem is the civilians are not armed," Rogan pushed back.

"Bomb the f*** out of them. Someone's going to learn," Rock said later in the discussion, prompting Rogan to counter that "you can't just nuclear bomb people."

"I didn't say nuke 'em," Rock clarified, after bringing up Hiroshima and Nagasaki as examples of how Palestinians should be treated by Israel.

"Yeah, but even even a conventional bombing campaign, if you want to do that somewhere, they can do that to your place," Rogan told his guest. "And this is what we have to avoid."

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Rock via email for comment.

Snippets of the interview have made their way to X, formerly Twitter, where Rock's comments have been met with a wave of criticism.

"This is just disgusting," wrote one viewer. "Where is the push back? This scumbag just get to spew this trash about the justification of killing children. Then they scream about 'protecting kids' here but it's all a lie. It's just a political football for them. He's advocating dead kids?"

"This man is literally advocating for the killing of 40,000 civilians so that Israel can get back 134 hostages," said another. "F****** think about that. 134 hostages is equivalent to over 100,000 people in his eyes. Arrest that man."

"Horrific statement from Kid Rock, he should be ashamed," one detractor commented, while another stated that his comments were "absolutely obscene."

"I've never seen such a garbage human in my life," read another post on X.

Political commentator Brian Krassenstein also shared his thoughts on the matter, writing, in part: "I stand with Israel, but this is just pathetic."

While X was flooded with comments criticizing Rock's stance on the conflict, a number of the platform's users spoke out in defense of the Michigan native.

"Kid Rock gets it," said one supporter. "Release the hostages."

"Kid Rock should be proud," another X user opined.

Conservative activist and author Brigitte Gabriel praised Rock, writing: "Kid Rock is a once in a generation type of talent, I am glad he's on our side."

Hours earlier, she had commented: "If you stand with Palestine, you stand with terrorism and barbarism. If you stand with Israel, you stand with peace and civility."

Elsewhere in his discussion with Rogan, Rock said that Palestinian civilians "could be good people. I don't know. Last I checked, most these motherf****** hate us. But, and I'm not saying all the people do. There's probably a lot that don't. Just like in Iran, the population is, you know, because of the Iraq war there, there's so many under 50 there that's like the majority."

Later in the conversation, Rogan stressed that "you're not supposed to pick civilian targets. That's actually a war crime."

"But [Hamas fighters are] hiding in civilian targets," Rock challenged. "They're in hospitals, they got trenches fucking underneath. They got operation centers."

Rogan went on to state that: "If you're a person who's born in Palestine, you're f*****. You're under their control. It's not your fault."

"Yeah. By birth. You're f*****," Rock echoed, prompting Rogan to respond: "Yeah, but that those aren't our enemy."

The Palestinian civilian death toll and distressing images of children dead in the rubble of bombed buildings have resulted in mounting international calls for a ceasefire and increased pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden to take a tougher line on Israel.

Despite the increasing condemnation over civilian deaths and demands for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the army will continue its offensive to destroy Hamas, bring home the remaining hostages and stop Gaza from posing a threat.