{"id":558057,"date":"2026-04-01T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/558057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:00:12","slug":"suspension-lifted-for-helicopter-pilots-who-hovered-near-kid-rocks-home-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/558057\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspension lifted for helicopter pilots who hovered near Kid Rock&#8217;s home : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775041212_276_.jpeg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/4896x3264+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbe%2Fb9%2F16809c2b4ff7aa13a9358fcb8163%2Fap24201089570069.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Kid Rock performs during the final day of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                Kid Rock performs during the final day of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p>                    J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/p>\n<p>                hide caption\n            <\/p>\n<p>            toggle caption<\/p>\n<p>        J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/p>\n<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn.  \u2014 The Army pilots who hovered two helicopters near Kid Rock&#8217;s Tennessee home during a training run while he clapped and saluted have had their suspension lifted, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No punishment. No Investigation. Carry on, patriots,&#8221; Hegseth said in a social media post.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, a U.S. Army spokesperson said the crews of the two AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell were suspended from flying, pending an investigation into their actions. The suspension was a discretionary \u2014 but not unusual \u2014 step when an investigation is underway, Maj. Montrell Russell said in statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Army would review whether the flight complied with FAA regulations and aviation safety protocol, Russell said in the statement, which he emailed fewer than three hours before Hegseth&#8217;s social media post. The Army takes &#8220;allegations of unauthorized or unsafe flight operations very seriously and is committed to enforcing standards and holding personnel accountable,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Hegseth&#8217;s announcement, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez said he had nothing to add to the secretary&#8217;s social media post. An Army spokesperson didn&#8217;t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, told WKRN-TV on Monday that it&#8217;s not uncommon for helicopters from nearby Fort Campbell to fly near his home. He said he is a big supporter of the military and he&#8217;s performed for troops overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think they know this is a pretty friendly spot,&#8221; he said. He noted that last Thanksgiving he was at Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army base on the Tennessee-Kentucky border, with Vice President JD Vance. &#8220;I&#8217;ve talked to some of these pilots. I&#8217;ve told them, &#8216;You guys see me waving when you come by the house?&#8217; I&#8217;m like, &#8216;You guys are always welcome to cruise by my house, any time,'&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock posted two short videos on social media Saturday. Each shows a helicopter hovering alongside his swimming pool while the entertainer claps, salutes and raises his fist in the air. One post included a caption by Kid Rock disparaging Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump suggested maybe the crews shouldn&#8217;t have done it before adding, &#8220;I like Kid Rock, maybe they were trying to defend him, I don&#8217;t know.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the videos, Kid Rock stands next to a replica of the Statue of Liberty and a sign by the pool that reads, &#8220;The Southern White House.&#8221; His home on a hill overlooking Nashville was built to resemble the White House.<\/p>\n<p>The helicopters were on a training mission when they stopped by Kid Rock&#8217;s house, said Maj. Jonathon Bless, public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne Division. The helicopters also flew over a &#8220;No Kings&#8221; protest against Trump in downtown Nashville, but Bless said their presence had nothing to do with the protest.<\/p>\n<p>Kid Rock said he thought it was &#8220;really cool&#8221; that they stopped to hover at his house.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If it makes their day a little brighter for their service to our country, protecting us, I think that&#8217;s a great thing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about possible repercussions for the crews, he said, &#8220;I think they&#8217;re going to be all right. My buddy&#8217;s the commander in chief.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kid Rock performs during the final day of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, July 18, 2024, in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-558057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}