Kid Rock’s Detroit Restaurant To Close After His Racist Rant About Oprah Winfrey

Kid Rock is closing his Detroit restaurant in the wake of his racist, profane rant against Oprah Winfrey, The Associated Press reports.

Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, owns Kid Rock’s Made In Detroit restaurant, a kind of upscale gastropub inside of Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit venue where the Red Wings and Pistons play. However, Ilitch Holdings, the company that manages the commercial spaces the arena leases out, reports that Ritchie has “voluntarily decided” not to renew his lease when it comes up in April.

Ilitch spokesperson Chris Granger said that his company contacted Ritchie but didn’t disclose what the conversation was about.

The move comes in the wake of a racist and profane tirade Kid Rock went on in which he mentioned, among other people, Oprah Winfrey.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, back in late November Kid Rock was on the stage at the Honky Tonk Bar in Nashville — another business that he owns — when he was caught on video delivering a drunken profane rant against Oprah Winfrey, The View host Joy Behar, and Kathie Lee Gifford. He repeatedly dropped the F-bomb, and at one point pointed to his crotch, while the audience seemed audibly shocked. So hammered was Rock that one of his own security people had to escort him off of the stage.

Rock would later say that his rant against Oprah didn’t come from racism, but from his general dislike of her. In a later tweet, he said that his dislike of Oprah stems from an incident that took place when he was once considering going on her show.

“My people tried to get me to do The Oprah Winfrey show years ago and her people wanted me to write down 5 reasons why I loved her and her show… I said f*ck that and her. End of story,” he wrote.

Whether or not the Oprah incident played a role in the closure of Kid Rock’s Made In Detroit restaurant is unclear. However, Granger did appear to reference the matter, however obliquely, in a statement.

“[Ilitch’s] venues are open, inviting, inclusive and respectful to all,” he said.

Ritchie, for his part, said in a Facebook post that he has no interest in operating where he’s not welcome.

“I appreciate all who have patronized our place and still have much love for the City of Detroit and the people / organizations that I have helped there for years, black, white, whatever, but learned long ago, go where you’re celebrated, not tolerated. I guess the millions of dollars I pumped into that town was not enough,” he wrote.