Kid Rock Reacts to Conan O’Brien’s Oscars Joke

Kid Rock got an unexpected shout out in Conan O’Brien‘s Oscars monologue Sunday night (March 15), but the “Bawitdaba” singer wasn’t too impressed with the jab.

Poking at Rock’s Turning Point USA halftime performance that was staged as an alternative to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show, O’Brien told the Oscars crowd and viewing audience, “I should warn you tonight could get political. Okay? And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave and Busters down the street. Lot of tickets for that.”

What Did Kid Rock Say in Response to Conan O’Brien’s Oscars Joke?

On Monday (March 16), Rock responded via the X platform to being roasted by the Oscars host over his Super Bowl halftime event.

He commented, “I love a good joke, even when I am the butt of it, unfortunately this was not a very good one.”

Rock then used the remainder of his tweet to hype his “Freedom 250” tour, dropping a Ticketmaster link in the social post for good measure.

“Either way, if you want to see a REAL good show this spring / summer that celebrates America and 250 years of Freedom – make sure you buy your tickets from (ugh) Ticketmaster for my Freedom 250 tour – The Road To Nashville. There is a reason for this, TRUST ME!,” commented the singer.

The trek gets underway May 1 in Dallas Texas and runs through June 20 in Burgettstown, Pa. All dates and ticketing info can be found through Rock’s website.

More About Kid Rock’s Turning Point USA Halftime

Kid Rock made headlines earlier this year when he headed up an alternative Super Bowl Halftime performance sponsored by Turning Point USA. The show came about after verbal pushback from President Donald Trump over the selection of Bad Bunny for the halftime performance. The Puerto Rican rapper is one of the best-selling artists in the world, but performs primarily using the Spanish language.

While the Bad Bunny halftime show was estimated to have drawn 135 million viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl performance in history, the Kid Rock-led “All-American Halftime Show” was said to have garnered 6.4 million viewers via YouTube and Rumble, per the Detroit Free Press.

Rock also found himself under scrutiny after the performance over lip synching claims. He would later tell Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “It was out of sync.” He explained that it looked weird because his DJ was not lit up and featured as they traded vocals on the portion of the performance that had people buzzing. He also alluded to a synching issue with the production.

“It was very difficult for the Turning Point production crew — who by the way I can’t say enough good things about — but was very difficult for them,” Kid Rock says. “I’m jumping around the stage like a rabid monkey, rapping my song and I’m taking breaths and my DJ is filling in the other parts of it — I even told them when I saw the rough cut, I was like, ‘You guys got to work on that sync. It’s off.’”

“So it was just a syncing issue that they had and I know they tried to get it right. It was very difficult,” the singer confessed.

Kid Rock + Ticketmaster

Kid Rock has been hyping his his “Freedom 250” tour and Ticketmaster’s involvement after previously testifying against Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation about the company’s escalating ticket prices and ongoing issues with ticket scalping.

Back on Jan. 27 of this year, Rock was testifying on Capitol Hill about the issues with rising ticket costs. During his testimony, Rock reminded the committee that Pearl Jam had testified before them in the ’90s and also recalled that in 2009 they were told that a Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger would benefit artists and fans. Rock reminded the committee that at the time, Live Nation’s CEO had promised that the merger would “increase competition and power artists and lower costs.”

“The economic foundation that supported artists in the past is crumbling. Piracy is threatening their livelihood. Secondary ticketing is driving up prices for the fans with absolutely no benefit to the artist,” Rock added. “Needless to say, that experiment has failed miserably. Independent venues have been crushed. Artists have lost leverage. Fans are paying more than ever and getting blamed for it.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rock implored Congress to subpoena the contracts signed and argued that the deals between artists, promoters, venues, ticketing companies, agencies and vendors would “find mountains of fraud and abuse.”

Fast forward to mid-February when Rock announced that he would be teaming up with Live Nation to utilize Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange Policy in an attempt to thwart scalping for the “Freedom 250” dates. In a lengthy video explaining how the ticketing would work, Rock shared, “This isn’t perfect, but it’s a real step to shut down scalpers and protect fans. No extra cost to fans — same tickets, same prices, just fairer access. Bottom line: buy tickets, go to the show and if plans change, sell them the right way so another fan gets in.”

He also credited the ticketing giant for working with him on this solution even after speaking out against them previously over their. ticketing practices. But even as Rock and Ticketmaster had seemingly found common ground, in mid-March private messages from Live Nation’s Slack account were made public in which two of the company’s employees boasted about taking advantage of ticket buyers for a 2022 Kid Rock concert by elevating VIP parking and seating costs. The exchanges were reportedly collected as part of a 2024 antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Just prior to the leaked messages going public, Live Nation reportedly settled the ongoing antitrust suit.

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