Kid Rock's restaurant to close after his profane comments on Oprah Winfrey

A Detroit restaurant belonging to Kid Rock is closing amid backlash over a video of him making profanity-laced comments about Oprah Winfrey while apparently drunk at a Nashville event.

The billionaire Ilitch family that owns the arena in which the restaurant is housed announced on Wednesday that Kid Rock had “voluntarily decided not to renew” his licensing agreement for Kid Rock’s Made in Detroit. The eatery, which served new American bar food with a southern flare, opened in 2017.

Kid Rock confirmed the news on his Facebook page, but he wasn’t done there.

“I appreciate all who have patronized our place and still have much love for the City of Detroit and the people / organizations that I have helped there for years, black, white, whatever, but learned long ago, go where you’re celebrated, not tolerated,” he added. “I guess the millions of dollars I pumped into that town was not enough.”

Since the announcement, Kid Rock has attacked local and national civil rights figures such as the Rev Al Sharpton. In response, Detroit civil rights leaders at a Wednesday press conference said: “Good riddance.”

“Thank you, and see you later, Kid Rock. We don’t need hatemongering racists in our city,” said the Rev Charles Williams II, director of the Detroit National Action Network chapter.

Related: Kid Rock's Made in Detroit restaurant sued over alleged racial discrimination

The controversy also appears to mark a break for the musician with Detroit, the city where Kid Rock made his name with his brash style of music that meshes rap, southern rock and country. Despite his ties to the region and incorporation of the city’s image into his act, Kid Rock has remained a polarising figure locally, and largely now resides in Nashville.

He ignited the firestorm on 28 November while making what many viewed as racist and lewd comments about Winfrey and Joy Behar, co-host of the ABC daytime talk show The View, on stage at his Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse in Nashville.

“Oprah Winfrey is like, ‘Hey, I want to get some white women to believe in this shit.’ Fuck her,” a visibly unsteady Kid Rock declared during the rant. “She can suck dick sideways … And if you say that, you’re like, ‘Hey, well I’m pretty sure Kid Rock is a racist,’ I’m like, OK, fine.”

The following day, he offered an apparent explanation on Twitter: “My people tried to get me to do The Oprah Winfrey Show years ago and her people wanted me to write down five reasons why I loved her and her show. I said fuck that and her. End of story.” The tweet included a LGBTQ+ pride flag emoji.

Local civil rights leaders in response planned a Wednesday protest for outside Made in Detroit, but the Ilitches made the announcement before it happened. Kid Rock didn’t manage the restaurant, but licensed his name and image rights, and helped design the menu and interior.

Kid Rock conceded to being a “loudmouth jerk at times” but said that “trying to label me racist is a joke, and actually only does a disservice to the black community”. In his Facebook post Kid Rock also included one last jab at civil rights leaders: “Hey Al Sharpton, you or your cronies will never beat me you tax evading, race baiting clown! Trump 2020!!”

Civil rights leaders are calling for the Ilitch family to replace Made in Detroit with a black-owned restaurant. They note that the city is about 80% black and its residents gave the Ilitches more than $320m in direct tax money to build the arena.