Photo Credit: Bruce Springsteen by Raph_PH / CC by 2.0
Taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook, Elon Musk took to the social media platform he owns to bash Bruce Springsteen over remarks made during his tour.
Elon Musk clearly isn’t a fan of Bruce Springsteen, and to illustrate that point, he took to the former Twitter—X, the social media platform he owns—to criticize the Boss twice on Monday. Presumably, what drew his ire was Springsteen’s remarks on the Musk-led DOGE cuts of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) during his “This is Happening Now” speech, as part of his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.
“The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children to death and disease by dismantling USAID,” stated Springsteen, who notably doesn’t mention Musk by name during his set. “It’s not on the front pages anymore, but it’s happening now. People are dying.”
Indeed, the USAID budget was gutted by Musk last year when he was head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In response to a post on X citing Springsteen’s reported $1.2 billion worth, Musk wrote, “Springsteen is (ironically) an America-hating idiot and billionaire hypocrite.”
Later, in response to a video of Springsteen’s speech that notes the musician’s use of teleprompters during the show, Musk added, “I wonder who wrote it for him. He’s just a puppet.”
Over 757,000 people, the majority of them children, have died due to the funding cuts to USAID, according to tracker ImpactCounter as reported by the Health Policy Watch. Further, there have been nearly a million more malaria cases reported, with over 700,000 affecting children.
USAID was established by former President John F. Kennedy and delivered humanitarian assistance across the globe, including nutritional assistance for malnourished babies and children, and HIV clinics for those affected by AIDS in Africa.
Notably, Musk has called USAID a “criminal organization.” But his criticism of Springsteen follows President Trump’s own attacks on the New Jersey icon, which were posted on Trump’s Truth Social.
“Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried-up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month.
Springsteen has delivered very pointed criticism of the Trump administration during his tour. So far, topics touched upon during his shows have included the Iran war, the mistreatment of immigrants being held at for-profit detention centers, the DOJ’s loss of independence, the dismantling of NATO, the whitewashing of history in national museums, the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, and the overall corruption of the Trump family, to name a few.
The Boss wraps up his tour this weekend at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, a show which was originally scheduled for May 8 but was postponed to accommodate an NBA playoff game between Philly’s 76ers and the New York Knicks.
