Kid Rock Calls Jay-Z an NFL “D.E.I. Hire”
The country rocker said he believed the NFL hired Jay-Z to improve the league's relationship with "Black guys."
Jay Z, Beyonce and their children Blue Ivy and Rumi Carter seen prior to the NFL Super Bowl LX football game between Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots at Levi Stadium on February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California.
Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images.
Kid Rock slammed the NFL and Jay-Z during a recent interview where he talked about his performance during Turning Point USA’s “All American” Halftime Show, which took place during Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8.
That performance was presented as an “alternative” to Super Bowl Halftime performer Bad Bunny. While speaking with Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Rock talked about the two halftime shows and expressed that he thought Jay-Z only got his role producing the NFL’s Super Bowl shows because the league wanted a “DEI hire.”
“So it goes like, ‘Well, maybe Jay-Z’ll do it,’” he said. “Which, nothing against Jay-Z. I respect him for his hustle and his music, but it seems like there’s a little bit of a DEI hire there going on.”
He went on to say that he thought the league brought in Jay-Z to appeal to “Black guys.”
“Black guys love Jay-Z,” Kid Rock said. "I’m not that ignorant, I know a lot of us love Jay-Z, not just Black guys,” he continued. “But in the league where you have this problem, it seemed like, ‘Oh, we’ll bring him in.’”
Early estimates reported by CBS say that Bad Bunny’s performance is projected to have drawn around 135 million viewers — which would make it the most-watched halftime show in history, only slightly ahead of Kendrick Lamar‘s 133.5 million record set in 2025.
Turning Point USA’s “All American” halftime show was a pre-taped performance that featured Kid Rock, Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert and Gabby Barrett. The concert landed around 5 million concurrent viewers, according to USA Today.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has led the selection of the Super Bowl Halftime Show performers since Roc Nation signed a long-term partnership with the NFL in 2019.
