Bruce Springsteen has not been shy about blasting Donald Trump and his administration — even if he doesn’t say the president’s name — on his current European tour. It got Trump’s ire up, calling The Boss “dumb as a rock” and a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker” on Friday. Springsteen has only amped up his criticisms, and now Trump has retaliated by saying he’s launching a “major investigation” against Springteen, as well as Beyoncé, Bono and U2, Oprah Winfrey and others, claiming that they all accepted money to appear at 2024 Kamala Harris campaign events.
Trump posted to his Truth Social site at the totally normal hour of 1:34 AM Monday morning, writing: “HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? …AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO??? I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment. In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. IT’S NOT LEGAL! For these unpatriotic ‘entertainers,’ this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”
In another Truth Social post at 9:11 this morning, Trump claimed that according to unspecified “news reports” that Beyoncé “was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG! Remember, the Democrats and Kamala illegally paid her millions of Dollars for doing nothing other than giving Kamala a full throated ENDORSEMENT. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL! IT IS AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION! BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!”
The Kamala Harris campaign has said no performers were paid for their appearances, but they did pay for production costs — lighting, sound, crew — in a New York Times article in November about her campaign spending.
“I did not take any personal fee,” Winfrey wrote. “However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”
Bruce Springsteen’s statement at recent concerts, which was reprinted on his website, included, “There’s some very weird, strange and dangerous shit going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now…A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea for what it means to be deeply American.”
