“He looks to be in good health.” “Golly I’d love to book him for my son’s 10th birthday party at the Church.” “His songs just keep getting better and better.” What do these sentences have in common? They’re all things NO ONE has said about Kid Rock. Yet that tall drink of scuzz is the headlining act for the “All-American Halftime Show,” Turning Point USA’s stupid programming that ones of people will be tuning into on Sunday. Meanwhile the rest of us will actually be entertained by the only real Super Bowl Halftime Show: Bad Bunny. Kid Rock has been aligned with the far right for years now, so that part checks out. Where it gets inexplicable is that TP USA is calling their show a celebration of “faith, family, and freedom.” Seems TP USA didn’t do their research on the fact that Kid Rock’s understanding of those values, is that he has faith in his freedom to like underage girls who are still family dependents. Luckily, the internet was ready with receipts… of the lyrics to the song “Cool, Daddy Cool,” written and performed BY Kid Rock.
In early February 2026, online users shared a rumor claiming that, decades earlier, musician Kid Rock released a song with lyrics that included “I like ‘em underage” and “some say that’s statutory but I say it’s mandatory.” Users claimed the lyrics appeared in the song “Cool, Daddy Cool,” which was used in the 2001 part-animation, part-live-action film “Osmosis Jones.” Snopes received reader mail highlighting the matter.
The claim circulated in the days after Turning Point USA announced Kid Rock would perform in the conservative organization’s “All-American Halftime Show,” an event competing with the Super Bowl’s official halftime performance, which was set to be headlined by Spanish-language rapper Bad Bunny.
…In short, Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, truly released a song with those lyrics, though another performer sang part of the lyrics.
The song, “Cool, Daddy Coo,” appeared on the “Osmosis Jones” soundtrack and is available on Spotify and YouTube. The track list on the soundtrack’s CD case credits the song to “Kid Rock featuring Joe C.” — a rapper whose real name was Joseph Calleja and who died in November 2000.
The movie itself, which was free for U.S. viewers via the Tubi streaming service, featured only part of the song and did not include the “underage” and “statutory” lines. The relevant scene begins around the 51:30 mark in the movie.
The movie’s credits (at 1:34:26) say the song was written by Kid Rock (listed as Ritchie), Bob Crewe and Frank Slay Jr.
Snopes contacted the Creative Artists Agency to ask if a representative for Kid Rock wished to comment on the lyrics. We also emailed Turning Point USA to ask if the organization had a response to users sharing the claim and will update this article if we receive further information.
Song lyric website Genius published a transcription of “Cool, Daddy Cool,” noting which parts Kid Rock and Joe C. sang.
…The website noted with italics that Joe C. sang the “but I say it’s mandatory” response to the “statutory” lyric sung by Kid Rock.
What is this cockamamie argument: “Sure, he wrote the whole song, but Kid Rock didn’t actually sing the ‘but I say it’s mandatory’ lyric, so it’s not as bad!” As if THAT’S the distinction that’s the big issue here. GMAFB. Snopes sourced an excellent Threads post that said: “If you translate Bad Bunny’s lyrics to English, he really isn’t an appropriate pick to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show.. ‘Young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage. See, some say that’s statutory, but I say it’s mandatory.’ Oh wait..my bad. That’s actually Kid Rock, headliner of the MAGA ‘Christian’ halftime show. So that tracks.” Exactly. The hypocrisy of it all is exhausting. All this huffing and puffing and posturing about how conservative groups like TP USA are for family values but traditional families (i.e., hetero) except only Christians and wait only for “All-Americans” who look like the small population of European immigrants who crashed the continent a few hundred years ago. It’d just be so much easier if they copped to what they really care about: being white. Kid Rock is appropriate (to them) because he’s white.
