Kid Rock abruptly cut his performance short at Jon Bon Jovi’s Nashville bar after growing frustrated with the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm.
The 54-year-old rocker was a special guest at Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan’s birthday celebration at JBJ’s on Saturday. While performing a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” he repeatedly asked the audience to clap along. When they didn’t respond as he wanted, he stopped the song mid-performance.
Video footage from the night shows Kid Rock turning to the band— which included Bryan himself— and saying, “Fk them. Fk them. Hey, hey, stop.” He then demonstrated the clapping pattern he expected from the crowd, telling them, “If you ain’t gonna clap, we ain’t gonna sing.”
Although a few audience members briefly clapped, it wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Moments later, he stormed off stage, saying, “You know what, fk y’all. You ain’t gonna clap, I’m gone.”**
As Kid Rock exited, Bryan and the rest of the band looked around in confusion. Bryan, who had just turned 63 on February 7, was seen exchanging words with another musician before seemingly throwing up his hands. Rock did not return for the remainder of the show and has yet to publicly comment on the incident.
Despite the abrupt exit, Kid Rock is set to hit the stage again in April for his Rock the Country co-headlining tour with Nickelback.
This comes after his recent performance at Donald Trump’s inauguration celebration in Washington, D.C. last month, where he performed alongside artists like The Village People, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Lee Greenwood.
Rock has been vocal about his support for Trump, stating that more celebrities now feel comfortable showing their political stance. In a recent Fox News interview, he said, “Now they feel it’s safe to go in the water after dipping their toe in it for four to eight years.”
Meanwhile, his unexpected walk-off at JBJ’s has left fans divided, with some defending his reaction and others questioning his behavior.