After news broke on Wednesday that Bruce Springsteen was arrested in New Jersey last November on suspicion of drunk driving, a stir quickly ensued: fans were baffled that something like this would happen to the singer – who is not a teetotaler, but is never known to have been a heavy drinker – and Jeep quickly removed the recent Super Bowl ad starring Springsteen from their YouTube page, stating that “drinking and driving can never be allowed.”
However, late Wednesday, unconfirmed details emerged that at least mitigate the seriousness of the violation. The Asbury Park Press (a town near Springsteen’s home that often appears in Springsteen’s songs) quoted a law enforcement report saying the singer’s blood alcohol level was 0.02 – well below the legal limit of 0.08 – and the The New York Post quoted a “source close to Springsteen” as saying the 71-year-old singer had accepted a single shot of tequila offered by a fan. Springsteen was riding his motorcycle in the Gateway National Recreation Area, a federal park in Sandy Hook, NJ, stopping to snap photos with fans. Then he accepted the shot offered by one of them, in plain view of police officers.
Bruce stopped, took the photos and then a fan offered him a shot of liquor, which he took while on his bike, which was stationary, the source said, according to the report. “Park police saw what happened and immediately knocked Springsteen over as he drove away.”
Representatives from Springsteen and the National Park Service did not immediately respond Variety‘s requests for comment.
While the new details, if true, make the incident less outrageous, it is impossible to drive under the influence in any context, as evidenced by Jeep’s statement after the removal of the Springsteen ad from YouTube.
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of an issue that we have only read about and cannot substantiate,” Jeep said in a statement to Variety. “But it’s also good that we pause our Big Game commercial until the factual facts can be established. The message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. Just like the message that drunk driving can never be allowed. “
At the time this article was published, no date had been set in court.