Tech billionaire Elon Musk has weighed in on the growing backlash against Bruce Springsteen’s politically charged concert tour, calling the rock icon “an America-hating idiot and billionaire hypocrite” in a post on his social media platform X.
Mr. Musk’s broadside came in response to a viral post accusing Mr. Springsteen of hypocrisy for attacking wealthy Americans while sitting on a personal fortune that some estimates put at $1.2 billion — though figures vary among celebrity wealth trackers. Critics have argued his wealth stands in tension with the working-class causes he champions onstage, though Mr. Springsteen has a long record of benefit concerts and charitable involvement.
Mr. Springsteen has made anti-Trump rhetoric a centerpiece of his Land of Hope and Dreams tour, which has been informally dubbed the “No Kings” tour after the nationwide anti-Trump protest movement, and has featured political speeches targeting the president between songs at recent stops in Cleveland, Ohio, and Boston, Massachusetts.
The hypocrisy argument has found traction beyond social media. Mr. Springsteen’s home state outlet argued the tour’s “political framing” exploits division in America, with NJ Advance Media writer Bobby Olivier charging that the singer’s populist image has grown increasingly hollow. Tickets reached as high as $2,900 for the best seats at his Newark show, while “No Kings” branded flags sold for $90 in arena concourses. Some fans and critics, however, have attributed the steep ticket prices in part to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing systems rather than to Mr. Springsteen directly.
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