Kid Rock Told Lara Trump He and Eminem Made a Pact Years Ago: “Let's Not Let Politics Divide Us.” Here Is Everything He Said.

A week after the Halfway 2 Jesus tracklist leaked the Eminem feature, Kid Rock finally explained it himself, on Fox, in his own words.

We already covered what was confirmed when the tracklist first went up and the fan backlash that followed. Both pieces leaned on a secondhand quote: Kid Rock's written foreword, relayed through Complex, saying he and Eminem "differ politically and on other things, but we've stayed friends through it all." This week he said it out loud, on camera, to Lara Trump, and filled in a part of the story nobody had reported yet: why this particular album, and why now.

Kid Rock sat down with Lara Trump for a taped interview on Fox's "My View with Lara Trump," which aired Saturday, October 10. Fox News published its own writeup of the segment, by reporter Max Bacall, on Sunday, October 11, at 12:36 p.m. ET. That Fox writeup is the primary source for this piece.

The pact, in his words

Asked directly about putting Eminem, a man who has spent a decade publicly opposed to Donald Trump, on a Christian album while Kid Rock himself has become one of Trump's most visible musical allies, Kid Rock gave the same answer he gave Complex in writing, but longer and in his own voice:

Kid Rock: "We said years ago, we said, 'Man, let's not let politics divide us.'"

He called Eminem a "class act" and argued that the two of them staying close despite disagreeing is itself the point he wants people to take from the record: that two public figures on opposite sides of the country's loudest divide can still show up for each other. It is the same logic that produced the 2024 exchange we wrote about, when Em replied to Kid Rock's Lions shoutout on X three days after introducing Obama at a Harris rally in Detroit. Kid Rock is now saying, on the record, that the "7 Sins" feature grew out of that same standing agreement, not a one-off favor.

The Charlie Kirk connection nobody had reported

The new information in this interview is not really about Eminem. It is about why Kid Rock made a gospel album at all, and he tied it to a specific event. Per Fox, Kid Rock said his closer relationship with faith followed the assassination of Charlie Kirk. He was careful to frame it as a deepening of something that was already there, not a sudden conversion:

Kid Rock: "I didn't get saved. I'm still Kid Rock."

He said he wanted to "create the songs that I wanted to go to church and hear," which is the clearest explanation yet for an album built around forgiveness and second chances rather than straightforward praise music. Kirk, a conservative activist, was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah Valley University event on September 10, 2026. Fox's report does not include further detail on how the two men knew each other or what specifically changed for Kid Rock after it, so treat the connection as exactly what he said and no more.

"James 1:17 (Jesus Is King)," the Halfway 2 Jesus lead single, released alongside the October 1 tracklist post.

Where the title actually comes from

We noted in our tracklist piece that the lead single shares its name with a Bible verse. Kid Rock spelled out the connection himself in the Fox interview: he was born January 17, 1971, his middle name is James, and he reads both of those as pointing at James 1:17. It is a small detail, but it is the first time anyone involved has explained, on the record, where the number actually came from, rather than fans guessing at a coincidence.

What he says comes next

Kid Rock told Lara Trump he wants to take the album's Christian-revival feel into arenas and stadiums, calling it a "full-on monster rock show." Fox's report does not list any specific dates, cities or venues, so for now this is a stated intention, not an announced tour. Halfway 2 Jesus is still due October 17, Eminem's 54th birthday, and "7 Sins" remains the only song on it with Eminem's actual verse still unheard publicly.

What is still not confirmed

Eminem has not personally addressed the Charlie Kirk connection, the "pact," or anything else from this interview. Every quote above is Kid Rock's framing of the friendship, not Eminem's. Fox's own report does not say whether Eminem was asked to appear on the show or declined one; it is a solo Kid Rock interview. And as with the tracklist story, nobody has published Eminem's actual bars from "7 Sins" or any studio footage of the two of them recording it. Once the album is out on the 17th, or if Eminem says anything himself, we'll cover it the same way: primary source first, speculation labeled as speculation.

For the backstory on how two Detroit rappers who traded scratches and verses in 1998 ended up here, including the full 28-year timeline, our original "7 Sins" writeup has it. And for how Eminem's own camp has described the politics he initially wanted on a record, Denaun Porter's account of Revival's scrapped political concept is worth reading next to this one. Same artist, same decade, two very different records about the same country.

Header image: Kid Rock in the official "James 1:17 (Jesus Is King)" music video (frame). Credit: Kid Rock.