(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Septuagenarian rocker Bruce Springsteen faced backlash over his newly released tribute to Minnesota anti-ICE protesters, not only because of its divisive political overtones, but because the song itself sucked.
In a message posted to Bluesky on Wednesday, “The Boss” boasted, “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.”
He dedicated it to recently killed activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were shot in apparent self-defense last month by immigration officials.
But critics noted that the protest song — which directly name-checks Republicans including President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House adviser Stephen Miller — was a far cry from Springsteen’s glory days of penning classics like “Thunder Road” or the oft-misinterpreted anti-war anthem “Born in the USA.”
The song’s slapdash approach plays fast and loose with rhyme and meter, while its schlocky sentiment comes off as tone deaf, with recent stats showing that nearly six in 10 Americans strongly support the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Even its title seems an uninspired act of self-plagiarism, borrowing from Springsteen’s own 1993 classic “Streets of Philadelphia.”
Some, on the other hand, argued that the disappointing ditty was entirely on brand for the overrated crooner.
“Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen apparently earned his alias by bilking fans and venues early in his career, in order to pay his bandmates, wrote right-wing influencer Raheem Kassam in a Substack post. “He’s spent the last several decades shaking down America, and his latest track – ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ – is no different.”
Several elements struck Kassam as lazy and derivative songwriting.
“The speed at which he pulled together the cliched melodies and a harmonica solo that sounds like it was lifted from outtakes from The Promised Land (1978) was part of its sales pitch,” wrote the former Breitbart editor, who now leads the National Pulse newsroom.
Moreover, the song overlooked key factual details about the circumstances of Good’s and Pretti’s deaths.
“Springsteen portrays Pretti as some harmless peacenik protester — a claim that collapsed almost immediately under the weight of police reports and video evidence,” Kassam wrote.
In one egregious example — both of factual inaccuracy and of attempting to shoehorn too many syllables into one line — Springsteen sings, “Now they say they’re here to uphold the law, but they trample on our rights / If your skin is black or brown, my friend, you can be questioned or deported on sight.”
No evidence supports the claim of race-based deportations. Indeed, some have observed that the deaths of Good and Pretti, who were both Caucasian, effectively debunked commonly held leftist misperceptions of “white privilege” when dealing with law enforcement.
TPM’s @libbyemmons: “Renee Good I think thought very clearly that she was protected by her white privilege. She thought there was no way they were going to shoot her because she was white.” pic.twitter.com/nGCO4rlXvp
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 29, 2026
Kassam further slammed Springsteen for exploiting the passions of leftist idealogues to line his own bank account.
“No statement appears to have been made about the revenue generated from the new, anti-cop song,” he wrote. “Springsteen will always find a way to turn tragedy into merchandise. ‘The Boss’ is again raking in cash made from his caterwauling, this time over dead left-wing agitators.”
He likewise criticized Springsteen’s sheer recklessness for egging on pliable protesters by using falsehoods and violent rhetoric to inflame their passions.
“If more people are hurt, it is – just as in the cases of Good and Pretti – squarely the fault of the Springsteens of the world for radicalizing them into defending illegal criminal migrants, pedophiles, rapists, and fraudsters,” Kassam wrote.
Other critics mocked the 76-year-old Springsteen, once the embodiment of blue-collar machismo, for his increasingly haggard appearance.
“This elderly lesbian (Bruce Springsteen) is a clueless degenerate,” wrote noted sociologist Gad Saad. “I can’t stand her.”
This elderly lesbian (Bruce Springsteen) is a clueless degenerate. I can't stand her. https://t.co/WjVRjKQANf
— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) January 31, 2026
While some detractors may be happy to see the song fade into obscurity as its references quickly become dated, others took to song themselves, writing pro-ICE responses that lampooned Springsteen for his growing irrelevance.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
