(UPI) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that helicopter pilots who conducted a flyby of musician Kid Rock’s Nashville estate over the weekend would not be punished, an abrupt reversal of the U.S. Army’s decision to suspend the Apache helicopter crews amid review of their conduct.
He also thanked Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, a vocal ally of President Donald Trump.
“You’re a disgrace,” Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican House of Representative from Illinois and a retired U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard officer, said in an expletive-laced statement responding to Hegseth’s announcement, in which he called the defense secretary an “unqualified clown.”
Rock published a pair of videos to social media on Saturday showing him cheering on a pair of Apache helicopters flying by and hovering near his Nashville estate, which he has called “The Southern White House.”
“This is a level of respect that [expletive] for brains Governor of California will never know,” Rock wrote in the caption to the videos. “God bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her.”
After the videos went viral, the U.S. Army announced Monday that it was conducting an administrative review of the incident.
Army spokesman Maj. Montrell Russell confirmed Tuesday that two Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, Ky., located about 60 miles north of Nashville, had conducted a flight in the Nashville area that has attracted media and the public’s attention.
“The personnel involved have been suspended from flight duties while the Army reviews the circumstances surrounding the mission, including compliance with relevant [Federal Aviation Administration] regulations, aviation safety protocols and approval requirements,” Russell said in a statement.
Hegseth offered no explanation for the reversal, which came not long after Trump told reporters at the White House that he had not seen the video.
Asked what he thought of the crews’ suspension, Trump said, “Well, they probably shouldn’t have been doing it.”
“Yes, you’re not supposed to be playing games, right? I’d take a look at it,” he said.
“They like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him. I don’t know.”
Rock has long been a vocal supporter of Trump and has appeared at the White House and in a recent Health and Human Services Department promotional video where he is seen working out bare-chested with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
He has also lashed out at Trump’s critics, notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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