Special Olympics calls on Kid Rock to reject 'R-word' after he said it on Fox News

The Special Olympics called on singer-songwriter Kid Rock to reject the “R-word” after he said it during a nationally televised appearance on Fox News

The Special Olympics called on singer-songwriter Kid Rock to reject the “R-word” after he said it during a nationally televised appearance on Fox News.

Loretta Claiborne, chief inspiration officer for the Special Olympics — the world’s largest sporting organization for people with intellectual disabilities — addressed Rock’s use of the slur in an open letter shared earlier this week.

Claiborne’s letter comes after the “American Bad Ass” and “All Summer Long” singer joked while on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Friday that he was going to be a “r-----” in a medical mask for Halloween.

“The R-Word deeply demeans and harms people with intellectual disabilities,” Claiborne wrote. “I’m writing to you personally with an urgent request: please acknowledge the hurt caused and use this moment to stand with us in rejecting that word and the prejudice it represents.”

Claiborne went on to detail the serious implications of Rock’s word choice, stating that people with intellectual disabilities are “still continuing to fight for the simplest form of justice: the recognition of our full humanity, a recognition you undermine when you use the word r-----.”