Kid Rock is not letting the internet have the last word regarding his performance at this past weekend’s “The All-American Halftime Show.” After facing a barrage of mockery on social media accusing him of lip-syncing his 1998 hit “Bawitdaba” during the Turning Point USA broadcast, the musician has released a new video to prove his critics wrong.
The controversial performance, which aired as conservative counter-programming to Bad Bunny’s official Super Bowl halftime show, drew immediate fire for what appeared to be a mismatch between the audio and the visuals. However, Rock insists the issue lay with the production crew’s editing, not his vocals.
To settle the debate, Rock flew his longtime DJ, Paradime, to his home on Monday night. Together, they filmed a direct response featuring an acapella rendition of the track to demonstrate how they trade off vocals live.
In the caption accompanying the post, Rock wrote:
“My halftime performance was pre recorded but performed live. No lipsycing like the haters and fake news are trying to report. When they synced the cameras to my performance on Bawitdaba, it did not line up as I explain in this video.”
In the video itself, Rock broke down exactly why the broadcast looked “off.” He explained that “Bawitdaba” is a chaotic song to perform and that the camera crew failed to capture the interplay between him and his DJ, leading to a sync disaster during the editing process.
“What’s up, people?” Rock began (as transcribed by theprp). “We’re here to address the fake news media and all the trolls that are piling on trying to say I was lip syncing on the Turning Point USA halftime to ‘Bawitdaba‘. First I got to say thank you to my DJ Paradime, We call him Freddie, who flew down from Detroit this evening, this Monday night. [He] flew down from Detroit this evening, just so we can make this video for you. And we get to hang out, drink a couple beers.”
He continued, detailing the technical hurdles the production team faced:
“So the Turning Point on ‘Bawitdaba‘, you know that song is chaos. And the first thing is — if I was ever going to lip sync — which I wouldn’t — that would be the last song I would ever have to bring in the fold to do it too. We performed this song every night on tour since 1998, since the day it was released. So the Turning Point event. So, they sent me a first cut, you know, we taped it, then they sent me a first cut, and my comment was, ‘the sync is off.’ They were trying to line up.”
“First off, if we would have done it, if we would have recorded it, and then played like we were singing it, lip synced it, it would have been pie, it would have been pie to line up. It was very difficult for them, because somebody clearly wasn’t super familiar with the song. Also, when I asked ’em, I go, ‘You know, Freddie wraps that song with me, my DJ’, and they’re like, ‘He does what?’ I’m like, ‘Oh no.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, do we have any cutaways of Freddie? And no, they didn’t. He wasn’t lit up. He didn’t have any TV time, sorry dog.”
“So they don’t have that footage. Now, it’s extremely difficult for them to line up the sync. It could have been done if we had more time. I’m confident they could have got it right. I only got to see one edit. And I didn’t think it was the end of the world. I saw what it was doing, the mics coming down. The sync was off.”
To prove his point, Rock and Paradime ran through the song acapella, trading lyrics back and forth. Rock argued that his high-energy stage presence makes it necessary for his DJ to fill in the gaps so he can breathe.
“Because when we’re rapping it, that song takes so much energy. You’ve seen me. People see me, I’m flipping mics, I’m jumping around like a like a rabid monkey on stage — still trying to at 55-years-old. And so me and Freddie are like this… So he’s filling in those words for me so I can [breathe and ] bang my head, keep going and carrying on. Now, when I’m doing that. You see me, I’m all over the stage. Oh, I’m flipping the mic. I’m down here. I’m over here, back. Boom. I know these guys had a difficult time getting that sync together.”
Despite the technical gaffe, Rock emphasized that he holds no ill will toward the organizers.
“So I have nothing but good things to say, not only about Turning Point, the production team that they worked with on this and other events, they’ve done top notch, first class all the way. Nobody’s perfect and gets it right every time, but for the haters and the trolls out there [flips the bird], that’s exactly what happened.”
Rock also took the opportunity to slam the “fake news” for amplifying the story, comparing his situation to recent rumors about Super Bowl headliner Bad Bunny.
“And by the way, most of you know this. If you have any inclination, some of you, they are in the entertainment world, you can look at that and be like, ‘Oh, the sync’s off.’ But no they had to, like, lie and say, ‘Oh, he was lip syncing.’ And then the problem is people amplify this all over the internet. And I know most people don’t even care, but there’s certain people that just keep repeating it so people think it’s a fact. And this goes on on both sides.”
“They did it to Bad Bunny, in his defense, when they were saying, ‘He said you have four months to learn Spanish’, he was on ‘Saturday Night Live‘. I think he was joking, but they do it far too often, especially in the fake news media. The left wingers, crazy libtards.”
He concluded the video by pivoting to a plug for his upcoming tour, promising fans a completely live experience.
“So if you want to come see us perform live, if you really want to see it live, our ‘Freedom 250 Tour‘ goes on sale this Friday. Tickets available through Ticketmaster, believe it or not. I’ve worked something out pretty good with them. I’ll be explaining that in the following days to come, tomorrow or the next day, because, like I said, tickets are on sale Friday.”
“What else? And then, oh, that people are asking, it’s called the Freedom 250 Tour: The Road To Nashville. And everyone’s wondering what’s the road to Nashville? Another video will be coming next week or something to explain exactly what that is, certainly coming weeks, we’ll see. But that’s deal no lip syncing here, no Tutti Frutti. Freedom 250 Tour on sale this Friday. God bless you all.”
