Kid Rock and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew together in Army Apache attack helicopters at a base in Virginia on Monday, prompting renewed political and public scrutiny weeks after similar flights near the entertainer’s Tennessee home drew questions about safety and authorization. Hegseth shared photos from the event on social media Monday night.
In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the flights supported a “community relations event” connected to Freedom 250, a White House-led initiative coordinating events for America’s 250th anniversary commemoration. Parnell said Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie participated in “multiple troop touches with service members” and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour.
The Monday flights came after Army pilots were previously scrutinized for hovering near Kid Rock’s Tennessee home in March. At the time, Army officials said the helicopter activity involved a training mission that stopped by the entertainer’s house and was not connected to a protest underway in Nashville, where Apaches also flew over a “No Kings” demonstration against the Trump administration.
After concerns were raised, the Army initially said it would investigate the March flights, which involved crews from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. The Army said it suspended the pilots involved, but the inquiry was later shut down after Hegseth intervened.
Flight tracking reported by public analysts showed that Kid Rock’s jet departed Nashville early Monday and landed at Fort Belvoir at 6:30 a.m., according to open-source flight data. Shortly after 1 p.m., the Military Air Tracking Alliance reported that a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache took off from the base, made a few loops over the installation, and landed about 10 minutes later.
The AP reported that the same Apache later involved in the Virginia activity had arrived at Fort Belvoir Saturday as part of a group that included four Apaches and two H-60 Blackhawk helicopters coming from Fort Campbell, which sits on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The AP also noted that an Apache typically has a two-person crew and that a passenger would replace one crew member, meaning Hegseth and Kid Rock would not have flown in the same aircraft at the same time.
The AP previously reported that Drop Site News was first to describe the Monday flights. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the helicopter activity on social media, asking why taxpayers were paying to fly Kid Rock around on what he characterized as $100 million helicopters, in remarks posted after the photos circulated. Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger, also posted online questioning whether Hegseth was using taxpayer dollars to give Kid Rock “joy rides” on Apache helicopters.
When reporters asked about costs tied to public events involving military flyovers or celebrity passengers, military officials have typically argued that such flights help satisfy regular pilot training requirements and do not represent additional cost to taxpayers. Monday’s event also included a separate posted image of Kid Rock speaking to a small group of servicemembers in the Pentagon’s press briefing room, according to Hegseth’s social media post.
After the Virginia flights, the AP reported that public flight data showed Kid Rock’s jet returned to Nashville shortly after 3 p.m. Monday.