AP ImagesKid Rock may be cocky, but he's not stupid enough to start a fight...unless it involves a battle with Tommy Lee over Pamela Anderson.
Before getting to that, let's start with the "All Summer Long" purveyor taking the stand today at a civil assault trial in Atlanta to address a 2007 brawl with a music promoter at a local Waffle House.
"We didn't beat up [the plaintiff]," Rock said.
The 39-year-old rocker, real name Robert Ritchie, offered his take on the Oct. 21, 2007, altercation, which he said began after his five-person posse traded barbs with plaintiff Harlan Akins over a female acquaintance of Rock's.
The Kid insisted Akins was the first to throw punches.
"I gave it to him verbally, I said, 'Shut your mouth, man,' " Rock told the Dekalb County State Court.
Despite some mutual bird-flipping—and an attempt to moon the promoter—Rock says he never made physical contact with Akins. While he did acknowledge that his pals got in a few punches, Rock says they were purely in self-defense.
"If you look at me, Bossy, Jason and Bear," said Rock, referring to members of his entourage with him at the time, "if we wanted to hurt this man, we could have hurt him very, very bad."
And—stop the presses!—Rock admitted to having put down at least a six-pack of beer that night.
Akins is suing Ritchie and crew for $6,000 in compensatory medical bills and a "small amount" of damages for pain and suffering. Rock pleaded guilty in March 2008 to misdemeanor battery and received a year of probation and anger-management classes.
During cross-examination, Akins' attorney Eric Hertz asked the "Cowboy" crooner about his past fisticuffs with Lee at the MTV Video Music Awards the month before the Waffle House face-off.
Rock didn't waffle about that. He said that he and Lee had exchanged some nasty texts involving their failed relationships with the ex-wife they have in common, Anderson.
As it turned out, they both found themselves sitting near each other at the VMAs, and Rock testified that he took offense to the Mötley Crüe drummer after Lee "smacked my hat off." At that point, Ritchie punched him.
However, the hick-hopper testified that Lee later called him and the two patched things up and are now friends.
Not helping Rock's case was a Waffle House waitress, who testified Tuesday that she saw the singer take a "swing and hit" Akins. She then backed up another eyewitness account that his posse dragged the promoter outside and roughed him up.
Also, several security cameras caught the whole thing on tape, showing Rock's gang swarming Akins—who hasn't exactly emerged as an angel.
In earlier testimony, the ATL-based promoter admitted to having been high on pot at the time of the incident.