Paul Sancya / AP
In this Oct. 17, 2018, file photo, Kid Rock performs during a rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James in Pontiac, Mich.
Friday, Nov. 30, 2018 | 3:48 p.m.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Kid Rock interview on "Fox & Friends" has roiled Nashville's Christmas parade.
The city's mayor might be a no-show at the parade if the singer serves as grand marshal.
A spokesman for Mayor David Briley says Kid Rock's comments about "The View" host Joy Behar were "hateful" and he's leaning against participating in the parade if the singer is leading it.
"When you have the grand marshal of what's labeled Nashville's Christmas parade saying hateful things on national television, the mayor obviously does not want to be included in an event with someone like that," spokesman Thomas Mulgrew said.
Kid Rock used an expletive to describe Behar during an interview Friday on "Fox & Friends."
"God forbid you say something a little wrong; you're racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, this that and the other. People need to calm down, get a little less politically correct," Kid Rock said in the morning interview from his bar in Nashville, where he swigged bourbon on camera and said he had been drinking coffee and Irish cream liqueur. "And I would say, you know, love everybody. Except, I'd say screw that Joy Behar (expletive)."
Multiple "Fox & Friends" personalities apologized on air afterward. Kid Rock apologized for the language, but "not the sentiment."
Briley is a liberal Democrat. Kid Rock, a brash Detroit-area musician whose real name is Robert Ritchie, for a while teased a Republican run for the U.S. Senate in the election that just concluded.
Kid Rock is slated to be grand marshal Saturday in the privately run Nashville Christmas Parade. The main sponsors include Piedmont Natural Gas and five bars on Nashville's main nightlife strip, including Kid Rock's establishment. The proceeds from the parade are going to the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
A publicist for Kid Rock did not immediately messages requesting comment Friday.
At least one other Nashville politician, Metro Nashville councilman Freddie O'Connell, said on Twitter he won't be participating in the parade. "The choice of grand marshal evokes neither the spirit of Christmas nor the inclusivity I think represents the best of Nashville," he wrote.
Kristin Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.
