{"id":401221,"date":"2026-04-28T08:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401221\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:15:10","slug":"hegseth-and-kid-rock-went-for-a-ride-with-army-helicopter-pilots-weeks-after-previous-apache-incident-sparked-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401221\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth and Kid Rock went \u2018for a ride\u2019 with Army helicopter pilots weeks after previous Apache incident sparked criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that he and Kid Rock went \u201cfor a ride\u201d Monday with US Army Apache helicopter pilots \u2014 less than a month after the military sparked criticism when Army pilots flew Apaches<\/a> over the entertainer\u2019s Nashville-area home.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cKid Rock is a patriot and huge supporter of our troops,\u201d Hegseth wrote on X<\/a> alongside photos of the two standing in front of an Apache helicopter. \u201cThe War Department is wasting no time celebrating America\u2019s 250th \u2014 home of the free because of the brave.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement the helicopters on Monday were operating \u201cin support of a Freedom 250th community relations event.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kid Rock \u201cparticipated in multiple troop touches with service members and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America\u2019s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour,\u201d Parnell said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe visit today provided an opportunity for Kid Rock to thank service members, highlight the professionalism of the men and women supporting the mission, and recognize their continued sacrifice in honor of our nation,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last month, the Army briefly launched an investigation and suspended the Army pilots who flew the two Apaches over Kid Rock\u2019s home. Hegseth promptly shut down the investigation and lifted the pilots\u2019 suspensions. \u201cNo punishment. No investigation, Carry on, patriots,\u201d Hegseth wrote on social media at the time.\n <\/p>\n

\"kid<\/p>\n

US Army investigating Apache helicopter flyover at Kid Rock\u2019s house\n <\/p>\n

The Army is investigating after musician Kid Rock posted video showing Apache helicopters hovering around his Nashville-area home. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

US Army investigating Apache helicopter flyover at Kid Rock\u2019s house<\/p>\n

0:43<\/p>\n

\n A video posted by Kid Rock showed the musician saluting a helicopter hovering by the swimming pool at his home, which he has dubbed \u201cThe Southern White House.\u201d In another video, he pumps his fist as two Apaches fly by him.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump at the time said, \u201cWell, they probably shouldn\u2019t have been doing it, yes, you\u2019re not supposed to be playing games, right? But I\u2019d take a look at it. They like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him. I don\u2019t know.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that he and Kid Rock went \u201cfor a ride\u201d Monday with US Army…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-401221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401221","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=401221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}