‘There’s only one Boss’: Bono addresses Trump’s attack on Bruce Springsteen
It is clear who the Boss is.
It is widely known that any artist who is against Donald Trump gets a target on their back in the eyes of the President. He takes to social media to yell at anyone who doesn’t like his policies and that includes some of the best musicians out there.
Bruce Springsteen, who has been vocally Democrat for most of his career if not the entire time the Boss was at the top, has performed for democratic presidential candidates in the past. Including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and more. In fact, he even has a podcast with former President Obama. All this to say that it is not surprising that Springsteen is not a fan of Trump.
But when Trump was recently lambasted by Springsteen at a show overseas, it led to Trump angry posting about him on social media. And Bono from U2 got included in his tirade. Luckily, Bono saw Trump’s anger as one thing: A lashing out of a toddler, angry that some people don’t want to play with him. Bono was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! when host Jimmy Kimmel spoke with the singer about Trump’s post.
Now, Bono and Springsteen have a longstanding friendship. I know this because Springsteen’s inclusion in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame had a speech by Bono in it and it had one of my personal favorite quotes about Springsteen. He talked about how Springsteen is Irish and Italian and everyone assumes he is Jewish. With a name like I have, I appreciate the bit because it really is the story of my life (I’m Scottish, Irish, and Italian).
So the U2 singer being anti-Trump isn’t a shock either but his conversation with Kimmel was kind of hilarious. Kimmel himself has been fighting with Trump for years. So when he brought up the tweet, Bono addressed it by first apologizing to Kimmel. He was, in that moment, taking away his time to anger Trump with his own reason for the next late night tweet fest from the President.
He did so to address an important lie that Trump brought up. Trump claimed people like Bono, Springsteen, Beyoncé, and Oprah Winfrey were paid to support Kamala Harris. That’s not true, that’s not what an “endorsement” is and if Trump is paying people, maybe paying Kid Rock was your first mistake. But Bono didn’t let the lie go.
“I don’t want to cut in on your action, because I know the president at 1 a.m., or 1:30, or whatever that was, is usually thinking about you,” Bono joked. “But two points I’ll make. One, to be the company of Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, and Oprah — I’ll play tambourine in that band. And two, U2 and I have never paid or played a show to support any candidate from any party. It has never happened.”
All of these people being anti-Trump is not exactly “news” but what I did love about Bono and Kimmel’s conversation is that Bono made one thing clear: There is one boss in this world and it is not Donald Trump. “I think there’s only one Boss in America,” Bono said. He was, of course, referring to the Boss himself: Bruce Springsteen.
There are a few things you just don’t do if you want people on your side. And attacking the Boss is pretty high up on that list.
(featured image: Theo Wargo/WireImage)
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