Bruce Springsteen, who blasted President Donald Trump in a Time interview published last week, spoke Sunday of a “battered” America trying to operate without “fear or divisiveness or government censorship or hatred.”
The rock legend appeared at the New York Film Festival premiere of a movie about his life, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.” The film covers Springsteen’s struggle against depression and burnout as he worked on his 1982 “Nebraska” album. The music icon is played by Jeremy Allen White.
Springsteen, 76, has stepped up his criticism of the president since the second term began, but kept his remarks somewhat aspirational to the festival audience ― without mentioning Trump specifically.
Click here to watch the video shared by The Washington Post’s Jada Yuan.
“These days, we have daily events reminding us of the fact that we’re living through these particularly dangerous times,” he said. “I spent my life on the road. I’ve been moving around the world. I was a kind of musical ambassador for America, you know, trying to measure the distance between American reality, where we’ve often fallen short of our ideals, and the American Dream.”
He added, “I’ve seen that America, as battered as she feels right now. But for a lot of folks out there, she continues to be a land of hope and dreams, not of fear, or divisiveness, or government censorship, or hatred. That America’s worth fighting for.”
The Lincoln Center crowd cheered Springsteen’s apparent dig at Trump for his administration’s pressure tactics, which led to Disney-owned network ABC temporarily pulling Jimmy Kimmel from the air, Yuan reported.
But Springsteen didn’t go further, which could have been awkward given the presence of Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“So, it’s in that spirit that I brought along my lifelong weapon of choice: the guitar,” Springsteen said.
He made a few more remarks before playing “Land of Hope and Dreams.”
Kevin Mazur via Getty Images
Springsteen told Time in a story posted last week that Trump “is the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for. If Congress had any guts, he’d be consigned to the trash heap of history.”
The 20-time Grammy winner pledged to keep giving Trump and colleagues the business because they can’t be given “a free pass.”
The Boss will continue to absorb barbs in return if their spring clash is any indication.
Springsteen kicked off his European tour by calling Trump and Co. “a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
Trump wrote back on Truth Social that Springsteen was “HIGHLY OVERRATED,” “dumb as a rock,” and “a JERK” whose skin had “atrophied.”
Kevin Mazur via Getty Images
