Saturday, October 3, 2026 · Independent editorial

Halfway 2 Jesus and the boycott

Kid Rock said he and Eminem are working on a Christian record he is calling Halfway 2 Jesus. Some Eminem fans answered with a boycott. Alana Mastrangelo’s Breitbart piece is the source. An album title is not a baptism, and a boycott is not a creed.

Breitbart reports that Eminem fans are threatening to boycott after Kid Rock revealed a Christian album collaboration with the Real Slim Shady rapper. One Reddit user declared on Thursday “Eminem is featured on Kid Rock’s new Christian album ‘Halfway 2 Jesus’. I’m so disappointed in Em. He obviously knows better, yet he’d rather collab with this MAGA nut!” That post came two hours after Kid Rock announced the upcoming album Halfway 2 Jesus which features the Lose Yourself rapper on the track list. The piece says fans are complaining and citing Kid Rock’s support for President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Another wrote “Woooooah, this is a massive disappointment.” One fan took issue with the lyrics now that he is allegedly MAGA adjacent and wrote “The guy who made a song about fantasizing about murdering his ex wife is MAGA adjacent? Shocking. Absolutely shocking.” Another said “I can live without Em in my playlist.” Another echoed “Yup, just removed the last of the Eminem songs from my playlist” and “I’m disappointed but not particularly surprised.” One commented “I’ll never be surprised when a white man is conservative” which the piece calls a bizarre implication that Eminem has now changed his political views simply because he is white and associates with someone who has different opinions. Another wrote “That doesn’t sound right given how anti-TRUMP/MAGA Em is” and asked if others were sure Kid Rock didn’t just use his name with some kind of sample. A reply clarified “Eminem has made it clear he’ll remain friends with kid rock despite their political differences.” They are not new to each other. Eminem was featured in Kid Rock’s 1998 rap-rock song Fuck Off and Kid Rock appeared in the music video for Eminem’s 2013 track Berzerk. Breitbart notes Eminem’s 2017 freestyle against Trump and his support for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and that both have strong ties to Detroit and appear to have remained friends despite their political differences. In October 2024 Kid Rock said in a video “I love Eminem. We’ve been friends for many years. I don’t agree with his politics, but I do give credit to him and people like Taylor Swift for standing up and not being afraid to be vocal for that which they believe.” Eminem responded on X “Here’s one thing @KidRock and I do agree on… GO @Lions !!!!” and added “Appreciate you, Bob” which is Kid Rock’s real name Robert James Ritchie. The objection named in the thread is the company he keeps. The album they are stepping over is the one Kid Rock announced as Christian. A title is not a confession. A boycott over a friendship is not discernment.

Being a Christian in America this week is refusing to confuse Halfway 2 Jesus with a finished conversion and refusing to confuse a playlist purge with moral seriousness. Keep the name of Jesus bigger than the feud. And do not confuse a boycott with the faith that actually judges the heart.

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