Musicians’ Unions Back The Boss After Trump Dumps On Bruce Springsteen Again: ‘We Stand in Complete Solidarity With Bruce’

The war of words between Bruce Springsteen and Donald Trump cranked up another notch on Thursday (April 2) when Dan Point, the president of the Local 802 American Federation of Musicians and Local 47 AFM president Marc Sazer lashed out at the president for his latest broadside against the Boss.

“We can not remain silent as one of our most celebrated members is singled out and personally attacked by the President of the United States,” the union presidents said in a joint statement following a post on Trump’s Truth Social in which the president again took aim at the rock icon for speaking out against his administration. “Bruce Springsteen is not just a brilliant musician, he is a voice for working people, a symbol of American resilience, and an inspiration to millions in this country and around the world.”

The pair continued, “From Nebraska to Born to Run, his music has spoken truth to power for decades, and that is exactly what he is doing now. Musicians have the right to freedom of expression, and we stand in complete solidarity with Bruce and every member who uses their platform to speak their conscience. Local 802 and Local 47 will always defend that right.”

The backing from the union — Bruce is a member of L.A.’s Local 47 and Asbury Park, N.J.’s Local 399 — came after Springsteen opened his Land of Hope and Dreams North American tour in Minneapolis on Tuesday (March 31) with pointed words about Trump’s actions. During the fiery show, the rocker reminded the sold-out crowd that federal immigration troops “brought death and terror” to the city’s streets in January, a reference to the killings of American civilians mother of three Renée Good and Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January.

Elsewhere in the show, Springsteen — a frequent critic of the president — condemned Trump’s “corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous” administration. In the midst of the unpopular and grinding Iran war, rising inflation and gas prices at home and historically low poll numbers, Trump took time on Thursday to lash out at Springsteen in a Truth Social post in which he wrote about the, “Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Trump continued, “The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America. Under Sleepy Joe and the Dems, our Country was DEAD, and now we have the ‘hottest’ Country, by far, anywhere in the World. MAGA SHOULD BOYCOTT HIS OVERPRICED CONCERTS, WHICH SUCK. SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY.”

Trump and Springsteen have been trading barbs for several months, with the White House issuing a statement in February referring to the 20-time Grammy winner and Kennedy Center Honoree as a “loser” after Springsteen released the scathing anti-ICE anthem “Streets of Minneapolis,” in which he lashed out at the Trump administration’s deadly immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.

Springsteen performed “Streets of Minneapolis” at last weekend’s No Kings rally in St. Paul, Minn. The E Street Band’s tour will roll on to the Moda Center in Portland, Ore. on Friday night (April 3).

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.