{"id":366415,"date":"2026-04-06T15:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366415\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:16:18","slug":"kid-rock-slammed-after-helicopter-video-wasting-thousands-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366415\/","title":{"rendered":"Kid Rock slammed after helicopter video &#8216;wasting thousands of dollars&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Kid Rock and helicopter\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/487b2fbbd808fb98fbf1dd4889ff0741.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock and helicopter<\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock is facing backlash over accusations of &#8220;wasting thousands of dollars&#8221; after appearing to receive a private military flypast at his home. The 55-year-old musician, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, posted a video on Instagram and X on Saturday, March 28, showing him saluting a military helicopter hovering outside his Nashville residence &#8211; a property he has styled as a replica of the White House.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-express.com\/entertainment\/celebrity-news\/203283\/shinedown-receives-award-iheartradio-music\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kid Rock was pictured standing;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Kid Rock was pictured standing<\/a> beside a replica Statue of Liberty near his pool as the aircraft passed overhead. &#8220;This is a level of respect that s&#8211;t for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her,&#8221; Kid Rock captioned the post.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-express.com\/entertainment\/celebrity-news\/203233\/kid-rock-branded-loser-he-s-slammed-trying-promote-new-project\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:rocker has been at odds with;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">rocker has been at odds with<\/a> California Governor Gavin Newsom ever since the politician effectively &#8220;banned&#8221; him from the state. The video drew swift criticism from viewers, with many questioning the expenditure of public funds on flying a military helicopter past his mansion.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An individual dressed in a light-colored hoodie and cap stands on an elevated vantage point, gazing at the expansive landscape b\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"585\" height=\"808\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a7e35f2f73b1dc26abcf806d89aff403.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock was branded a &#8216;tool bag&#8217; for the post (Image: X\/@KidRock)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Who wasted thousands of dollars in fuel, maintenance and wages to go hover by his pool?&#8221; one person questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Another user echoed the sentiment, asking &#8220;Why the f&#8211;k is there a helicopter outside your house like that? Isn&#8217;t that huge waste of money?&#8221; while a third fumed, &#8220;What a waste of fuel. You are a tool bag.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A fourth critic posted, &#8220;We can&#8217;t afford gas and groceries and our tax dollars are being spent to make Kid Rocks loser a&#8211; happy.&#8221; A fifth piled on, slamming, &#8220;What a waste of taxpayer money. Shameful stuff, Kid Kicks Rocks.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Kid Rock\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"589\" height=\"800\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2669c5fb158e2885b7137c19316c70d5.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock has been at odds with Gavin Newsom after he &#8216;banned&#8217; him from the state (Image: X\/@KidRock)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Will U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for this indulgence? You should get your checkbook out and pay for this BS.&#8221; one X user questioned as another echoed, &#8220;Who authorized this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Military flyovers are largely financed through the U.S. Department of Defense via military training budgets, drawing from federal tax revenues and, to a lesser degree, international security assistance programs.<\/p>\n<p>Further critics took issue with Kid Rock&#8217;s choice to salute the helicopter. &#8220;Yeah so, you&#8217;re not supposed to salute people in the military when you&#8217;ve never been in it yourself. It&#8217;s blatantly disrespectful,&#8221; one person pointed out.<\/p>\n<p>Another user agreed, &#8220;Civilians aren&#8217;t supposed to salute..that&#8217;s only for military. A real patriot would know that..a drug head trailer park rock singer would not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A third detractor weighed in: &#8220;Saluting them? Like you served in our military and earned that honor,&#8221; adding, &#8220;I once paid for your&#8230;concerts, shirts, music, etc. Hell, I&#8217;ve even met your stoned a&#8211;! lol Your career didn&#8217;t have to tank this way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that a military salute is traditionally rendered by soldiers to acknowledge and show respect to a superior-ranking officer, and may also be extended by Heads of State. While a civilian offering a salute may be interpreted as a well-meaning gesture of respect, military etiquette experts advise against it, as it is widely regarded as a breach of protocol.<\/p>\n<p>]]&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kid Rock and helicopter Kid Rock is facing backlash over accusations of &#8220;wasting thousands of dollars&#8221; after appearing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,17062,47065,58299,192351,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-366415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gavin-newsom","10":"tag-helicopter","11":"tag-kid-rock","12":"tag-military-helicopter","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}