Bruce Springsteen’s Super Bowl Jeep commercial has been taken off YouTube by the car firm after it emerged that he was arrested for DWI and reckless driving in his home state of New Jersey late last year.
The advert was removed from Jeep’s page on the site around lunchtime on Wednesday with those clicking on ‘The Middle ft Bruce Springsteen’ greeted with the message: ‘Video unavailable. This video is private.’
The commercial was also removed from Jeep’s Twitter account on Wednesday although it appears Springsteen kept it on his personal Instagram account.
Almost 100million viewers saw the Born to Run singer appear in and narrate the spot, which aired during Sunday’s game.
Bruce Springsteen is facing legal trouble after he was busted for a DWI and reckless driving back in his home state of New Jersey late last year, it has now been revealed
Visitors to the page where the advert once existed are now given this warning message
It appears that Jeep were not aware of Springsteen’s legal woes at the time of filming.
A spokesperson for the car company has refused to specifically comment on the singer’s arrest.
‘It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate. But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established.
‘Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.
Jeep hasn’t disclosed what fee Springsteen was paid for his appearance in the ad, nor has the company shared how much the commercial cost to make.
However, its likely to have cost tens of millions of dollars, with a 30-second spot of airtime during this year’s Super Bowl costing around $5.5 million. At that price, Jeep’s 120-second add would’ve cost around $22 million.
It is also not clear whether Springsteen will be asked to pay back the fee.
It appears that Jeep were not aware of Springsteen’s legal woes at the time of filming
Springsteen, 71, was busted for DWI and reckless driving in his home state of New Jersey late last year, authorities have revealed.
Officials with the National Park Service (NPS) confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Thunder Road star was arrested at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on November 14, 2020.
Springsteen was slapped with three federal citations by authorities: driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area.
No further details in the incident have yet been released, but the rock legend was said to be ‘cooperative throughout the process’, according to NPS spokesperson Brenda Ling.
According to TMZ, this is Springsteen’s first known arrest for DWI. He is due to appear in court in the coming weeks (pictured: Springsteen chugs back a fan’s half finished beer during a concert in Philadelphia, in 2012)
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According to TMZ, this is Springsteen’s first known arrest for DWI. It’s not immediately clear why the arrest took almost three months to come to light.
A DWI in a national park is a misdemeanor federal offense, carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a fines up to $5,000. Probation can also be up to five years, according to Freeburg Law.
The singer is due to appear in court in the coming weeks, but a specific date has not been revealed.
The 71-year-old’s starring role in Jeep’s Super Bowl ad, titled ‘The Middle’, marked another first for Springsteen this week: his first-ever product endorsement.
The two-minute ad featured Springsteen driving through Lebanon, Kansas – near the geographic center of the country – in a 1980 Jeep CJ-5 and preaching calls for unity.
‘It’s no secret the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, servant and citizen, freedom and fear,’ Springsteen intones, adding ‘we need the middle.’
‘Fear has never been the best of who we are,’ the Boss continues. ‘We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountaintop, through the desert . . . and we will cross this divide.
‘As for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few, it belongs to us all, whoever you are, wherever you’re from,’ Springsteen states in the voiceover.
The ad then ends with a dedication: ‘To the ReUnited States of America.’
The arrest took place at the beach-front Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey (seen above)
Springsteen has famously shunned appearances in commercials over the course of his decades-long career.
However, his longtime manager, Jon Landau, revealed the decision for him to take part in Jeep’s ad was entirely ‘spontaneous’ and came after years of the company courting him.
Although his first ad, Landau told Rolling Stone the hit-maker had a heavy hand in the commercial’s artist direction, explaining its script was ‘substantially revised by Springsteen’, adding that he also participated in the edit of the footage.
Landau said Springsteen ‘controlled every second of what you see and hear, and that’s why it feels so personal.’
Jeep hasn’t disclosed what fee Springsteen was paid for his appearance in the ad, nor has the company shared how much the commercial cost to make
Earlier this month, Springsteen also performed at Joe Biden’s inauguration with a rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ at the Lincoln Memorial.
Springsteen opened the evening’s Celebrating America event, which was hosted by Tom Hanks.
He lives in New Jersey – close to where he grew up – with his wife, Patti Scialfa, who he married in 1991.
Springsteen’s reps have not yet returned a DailyMail.com request for comment on his arrest.
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