The awards, plaudits, public acclamations, and back slaps keep coming for Bruce Springsteen. Just weeks after President Joe Biden hosted the National Humanities Medals and the National Medal of Arts awards with the multi-millionaire rocker to the fore comes yet another tribute.
New Jersey will on 23 September celebrate Bruce Springsteen Day for the first time, a move announced by the governor, Phil Murphy, in the hours after the left wing singer and his wife, Patti Scialfa, tested positive for coronavirus.
The 73-year-old who loves his native state so much he once said he would pack up and flee to Australia if Donald Trump took office before saying how embarrassed he was by Trump’s ultimate victory now has a day to call his own.
Stop singing the songs pretending to care about the working class, then. https://t.co/OL5Ey5yK6K
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 5, 2017
“Bruce Springsteen is one of the most iconic and influential musicians – and New Jerseyans – of all time,” Murphy, a Democrat, gushed on Saturday at the American Music Honors, an event at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
The governor added: “It is important we recognise Bruce for all he has done and will continue to do, from giving us the gift of his music to lending his time to the causes close to his heart, including making … a repository that will inspire tomorrow’s songwriters and singers.”
Bruce Springsteen is one of the most iconic and influential musicians – and New Jerseyans – of all time, period.
And so, I am both honored and proud to announce @springsteen‘s birthday, Sept. 23, will officially be known as Bruce Springsteen Day in the Garden State. pic.twitter.com/Ux5B54jdlB
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 16, 2023
The very public plaudit follows his veteran E-Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt issuing a call to fans and supporters on social media to “Exterminate the (Republican) cockroaches.”
His rallying cry to target GOP supporters, half of America, came during an expletive-laden exchange on Twitter, as Breitbart News reported.
Van Zandt quickly walked back back his incendiary comment, claiming he meant to say “exterminate at the ballot box” before adding the furore was all a bit of a misunderstanding.
U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to musician Bruce Springsteen during an East Room ceremony at the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Despite his claimed working class roots, Springsteen himself has also courted controversy of his own.
“Bruce Springsteen does not care about you,” wrote NJ.com last year, an outlet straight out of Springsteen’s home state.
The complaint was over the ticket pricing for Springsteen’s 2023 tour which recently wound up.
Tickets went on sale with floor seats going for as high as $4,300. Standing room-only seats were also priced at $1,125.
Bruce Springsteen likes to boast about his working class roots, but fans are now abandoning The Boss in droves as ticket prices for his upcoming tour have soared as high $5,000. https://t.co/jt5BK1rj14
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 10, 2023
This wasn’t the first time “working class hero” Springsteen has fronted a show with tickets costing more than many working-class people bring home in a week.
Back in 2017, “Springsteen on Broadway” tickets climbed as high as $850 each.