Bolling Scolds Springsteen: ‘Fortunate Son’ ‘Derogatory’ to Military

Bruce Springsteen played the anti-war song (note: not anti-military, anti-war) “Fortunate Son” at HBO’s Veterans Day Concert for Valor last night, and some people weren’t happy about the choice. Fox News’ Eric Bolling scolded Springsteen and called the song “derogatory” to the military.

Bolling said Springsteen should have shown “a little common sense,” and said of the decision to play the song, “What a mistake, it’s Veterans Day.” Jesse Watters admitted that while he can understand some veterans being outraged, he honestly wasn’t that offended by it. Furthermore, he pointed out, it didn’t look like Springsteen was booed and there were certainly a lot more offensive things (like, say, Eminem dropping f-bombs) to be outraged about.

Bolling still insisted it was disrespectful, and even went so far as to call “Fortunate Son” “derogatory to the military.” Watters quickly disputed that categorization before moving on.

It should be noted, as Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell pointed out earlier today, that “Fortunate Son” is not an anti-military song, it’s an anti-war song about the people who make the sacrifices in wartime and the people who make all the big decisions about war but don’t make sacrifices of their own thanks to personal or political privilege. Hence the line about having to go fight because he “ain’t no Senator’s son.”

You can watch the video below, via Fox News:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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