Group Pressures GM to Drop Kid Rock Over Confederate Flag

General Motors said today it will continue to sponsor Kid Rock's summer concert tour, despite concerns raised by a civil rights group over his support of the Confederate flag. Members of the National Action Network and its Detroit chapter president will meet Thursday with representatives from GM's Chevrolet brand. The Detroit Free Press says the group wants Kid Rock to renounce the flag and is meeting with GM because the singer hasn't obliged. (In fact, just the opposite.)

"We need to let some open and constructive dialogue occur as a first step, and we'll go from there," says GM spokesman Patrick Morrissey. Kid Rock, a longtime fan of Southern rock, has been criticized in the past for displaying the flag. "The only flag on stage during the Chevy-sponsored summer concert tour is the American flag," says Morrissey, "and to our knowledge, Kid Rock has not used the Confederate flag on stage for several years." (More Kid Rock stories.)