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Jeep Distances Itself from Bruce Springsteen After DUI Arrest

This was an eventful week for music icon Bruce Springsteen – and he didn’t even actively do anything. In light of news that he’d been arrested for driving under the influence in late 2020, Jeep has decided to temporarily “pause” their partnership.
Bruce Springsteen for Jeep, calling for unity in America 1 photo
Photo: Jeep
Even by celebrity standards, this story is strange. Last weekend, Bruce Springsteen appeared in his first televised commercial ever and his second-ever endorsement: he had agreed to lend his voice, face and even his car to Jeep’s message of unity and political centrism.

The ad, called “The Middle,” saw Springsteen drive his own 1980 Jeep CJ-5 to and around Lebanon, Kansas, which sits at the center of the United States. The voiceover was also Springsteen, reading a spoken poem he had penned about the current situation in the country and the need for every one to find the middle way.

The ad ran during the Big Game and, for a variety of reasons, was met with a mix of praise and harsh criticism. For a Super Bowl commercial, it did the job of getting people talking about it. After all, you don’t pay millions to run a 2-minute film to expect it to fall flat as a pancake.

Two days later, word got out that Springsteen had been arrested for drunk driving in November 2020 and, for whatever reason, the news hadn’t been made public until then. He was stopped by a cop in Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, after the cop had seen him take a swing of a tequila bottle that had been handed over to him by the fans he had posed for pictures with. He then got on his Triumph motorcycle and rode off.

The cop followed Springsteen and pulled him over, informing him that drunk driving was (duh!) illegal, as was drinking in the park. Perhaps the strangest part was the mention that his BAC was just .02, which is a quarter of the legal limit in the state. In other words, this wasn’t technically a DUI.

The full police report has now been released to the public and it shuts down the previous story. Springsteen never agreed to a breathalyzer and he failed the field sobriety tests. You will find it in the PDF attached: the cop says the singer was swaying and had glassy eyes, and smelled of alcohol on his breath and person. He had the bottle of tequila on him and it was “completely empty.”

While refraining to comment on the possible future of the collaboration with the singer, Stellantis says in a statement that the ad for Jeep has been “paused” while this DUI mess is sorted out. “It’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established,” the carmaker says. “Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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