‘Hypocritical Crap’: Bruce Springsteen Torched by His Hometown Paper for ‘Profiteering’ at Trump Protest Concert

Bruce Springsteen performs during the “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour on Monday, April 20, 2026, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen got absolutely pummeled in a major homestate outlet for being a Trump-obsessed rich fraud who masquerades as a champion of the blue-collar worker, while in reality being a greedy hypocrite who does nothing to help the average American and illegal immigrants he says he cares about.

NJ.com music and culture reporter Bobby Olivier shredded “The Boss” in a NJ.com column on Tuesday. Olivier reviewed Springsteen’s homecoming show in Newark from the night before, and the title — “Springsteen’s N.J. concert was poisoned by hypocrisy. Anti-Trump final act is a tragic mistake” — let readers know right away he was not going to spare any punches.

He wrote Springsteen’s fixation on President Donald Trump has grown trite and tiresome. The rocker’s lecture at the start of the show — where he complains “the America I love… is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration” — was a bore, Olivier wrote. He said Springsteen’s preachiness was tough to stomach and square with his everyman persona.

“One problem: It’s all hypocritical crap,” Olivier wrote. “Profiteering over legitimate protest. Springsteen’s artistic identity, as a bleeding-heart populist who sings for the destitute and downtrodden, has never been more disconnected from his economic behavior as a touring act or businessman.”

He continued:

The blue-collar troubadour now charges exorbitant amounts for his tickets — up to $2,900 retail for the best seats in Newark Monday; prices he agreed to despite fan backlash. He’s selling “No Kings” branded flags for $90 in the arena concourse. And last week, his merchandise distributor got an injunction passed to ban bootleg T-shirt sales outside the venue, even as crews of independent sellers — fine examples of working-class people he’s romanticized for 50 years — hawk merch at nearly every other Prudential Center show without issue.

At another point, Olivier slammed Springsteen’s “exploitation of American division and outrage in a manner no better than any cable news pundit.” He wrote it was a “damning contradiction” and a “tragic” lapse in judgement that “threatens to tarnish” Springsteen’s last chapters as a performer.

“The guy who sold his publishing catalog for $550 million singing to a room of almost exclusively white fans in defense of immigrants, who couldn’t afford get in, aren’t allowed to make an extra buck outside selling T-shirts with his face on them, and who ostensibly will in no way benefit from this tour,” he added, before noting there have been no reports Springsteen’s tour is giving a cut to immigration groups.

Olivier’s searing review comes as Springsteen is on his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour. Rage Against the Machine guitarist and politically-minded socialist Tom Morello is joining him on the road. The tour started in Minneapolis and March, a few months after Springsteen debuted an anti-ICE song to protest the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Trump has been throwing his own shots back at Springsteen recently too, like when he called the “Hungry Heart” singer a a “dried up prune” earlier this month; the president also called for MAGA to boycott Springsteen’s tour.

NJ.com is owned by Advance Publications and features content from The Star-Ledger and several other Jersey papers, including The Warren Reporter and South Jersey Times.

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