Kid Rock will perform at the NHL All-Star Game, and some fans’ reaction is ice cold

If the NHL wanted to attract a lot of attention to its All-Star Game this year, it scored a hat trick Tuesday by announcing that Kid Rock will perform.

He’s a racist, sexist and homophobe, angry fans vented. Why would the NHL tap someone like that?

“A slapshot in the face?” one Detroit TV station asked as it pondered the choice.

Sports Illustrated pointed out that diehard NHL fan and former WWE star CM Punk is so upset he posted a meme of himself to show his displeasure.

Voices of support appear to be left out in the cold.

The Detroit rocker’s performance during the second intermission at Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, will be televised on Jan. 28, the league announced.

Flo Rida will perform at the All-Star Skills competition prior to the game.

Rock’s conservative politics, which he’s not shy about touting, have made him a target of late. He is a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump. He displays the Confederate flag at his concerts. And he is no big fan of Colin Kaepernick’s efforts, or apparently the press.

Rock denied the Detroit Free Press credentials to his concert opening the Little Caesars Arena in September because he didn’t like a column that said having him perform on the special occasion was a “middle finger to Detroiters.”

“You guys wrote a f***ed up story and allowed it to be published. You want a quote, there it is,” his publicist, Kirt Webster, told the newspaper.

Rock performed at the Sprint Center on New Year’s Eve, where he began the show with a “firebrand political stump speech that confronted and chastised everything from welfare mothers and deadbeat dads to gay rights, health care and racism/white supremacy,” the Kansas City Star’s Timothy Finn wrote.

The NHL couldn’t see this train wreck careening down the track, some fans wanted to know.

One fan, though, smelled a conspiracy.

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Kid Rock will perform at the NHL All-Star Game, and some fans’ reaction is ice cold."