Kid Rock, seen here performing at a Trump 2020 rally, announced that he won’t play at venues that … [+]
If you don’t want Kid Rock to perform at your venue, apparently there are two things that you can do. You can require either face mask wearing or proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter. That’s because the singer, songwriter, and rapper recenlty announced on a video posted on both Facebook and Instagram that he’ll be skipping any stop on his upcoming U.S. tour that has any of these requirements.
The video featured Kid Rock sitting in a chair with what appeared to be a stuffed pig in the background. The pig didn’t talk at all but Kid Rock spent most of four-minute-plus video touting his new music and his “Bad Reputation” tour, which is scheduled to begin in April. He opened with a reference to the tour and then quickly pivoted to the following: “There’s been a lot of talk about vaccine mandates and venues. People saying, ‘I’m not going to that venue because of the vaccine mandate’ and this, that, and the other.”
The following tweet included a segment of Rock’s video, which, warning, warning, had some naughty words:
As you can see, Mr. Rock (or perhaps Mr. Kid) continued with, “Trust me, we’ve done all our research on this and the consensus says that all this is going to be done, if there are any at these venues, I’m not aware of any, but if there are any, they’re going to be gone by the time we get to your city. If they’re not, trust me, you don’t have to worry. You’ll be getting your money back because I won’t be showing up either.” He didn’t mention what specific research was done and how much of it may have involved scrolling on a smartphone while on a toilet.
Regardless, Rock, who incidentally was born Robert Ritchie, added, “If you think I’m going to sit out there and sing ‘Don’t Tell Me How to Live’ and ‘We the People’ while people are holding up their [bleeping] vaccine cards and wearing masks — that [bleep] ain’t happening.”
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Rock went on to reveal that Covid-19 requirements had already led to the cancelation of tour stops in Buffalo, N.Y., and Toronto, Canada. He also plugged his new song, “We the People,” which included lyrics such as “We the people in all we do, reserve the right to scream ‘[bleep] you’” and “Wear your mask, take your pills. Now a whole generation’s mentally ill [Hey-yeah] man, [bleep] Fauci [Hey-yeah].” Rock noted, “I did tickle some balls along the way but no more. I’m not beholden to anybody.” Then he asked everyone to tune in the Tucker Carlson Tonight show for an announcement.
So without Covid-19 precautions in place around you, attending one of Kid Rock’s concerts may bring the risk of not only being exposed to Kid Rock’s music but also being exposed to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). And while you may be happy to be exposed to Kid Rock music, you really don’t want to expose yourself to the SARS-CoV-2. Besides the whole potential hospitalization and death thing, there’s also the risk of long Covid, which can be about as fun as trying to shove an anvil up your nose.
If you happen to be the SARS-CoV-2, you may be rubbing your spikes together in anticipation and playing the Kid Rock song “All Summer Long” on a loop. As long as the SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread throughout the U.S. in a relatively uncontrolled manner, a mass gathering without proper Covid-19 precautions in place has “potential super-spreader event” written all over it. And any such super-spreader event could just further fuel and prolong this bleeping pandemic.
Yeah, these days, Covid-19 precautions in a public area shouldn’t just be a Kid Rock, paper, scissors thing. It shouldn’t be left up to chance. Many entertainment venues realize that being the site of the next super-spreader event would be kind of bad for business. After all, people don’t tend to say, “hey where should we go tonight? Hey, how about that super place, the place where that super-spreader event occurred?”
Plus, maintaining Covid-19 precautions in public locations is like wearing clothes instead of two strips of bacon, making sure that you urinate in toilets rather than on table tops, and refraining from throwing large heads of cabbage at your boss. These are not simply personal decisions but instead are one that affect many people around you. Unless you live by yourself in a cave and emerge only occasionally to attend Kid Rock concerts, you are most likely exposing yourself to others each and every day. Umm, let’s rephrase that. You are most likely interacting with others each and every day. As a result, failure to maintain Covid-19 precautions at a public venue puts not only you at risk but also anyone who comes into contact with you or happens to visit that venue.
This pandemic and Covid-19 precautions aren’t going to last forever. This year, 2022, could be a real turning point. However, failure to implement enough precautions such as vaccination now is only going to prolong the pandemic.
It’s easy to tell people that they have the freedom to do whatever they want. People certainly like to hear stuff like that. The Randall Wallace character didn’t say in the 1995 movie Braveheart, “They may take our lives but they’ll never take our ability to live a society governed by a reasonable set of rules to make sure selfish, short-sighted people don’t take advantage of others or put others at risk because they do not realize the consequences of their actions!” No, instead, when Mel Gibson played Wallace, he yelled, “They may take our lives but they’ll never take our freedom,” which probably sounds a lot better to people. In reality, though, no one has complete freedom to do whatever he or she wants. There are things called consequences. Telling people to ignore the SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 precautions will have consequences such as more death and suffering. What separates a kid from an adult is that an adult supposedly better realizes the consequences of his or her actions.
