{"id":492167,"date":"2026-06-14T10:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492167\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:21:08","slug":"bruce-springsteen-apologises-to-bono-for-refusing-to-license-song-for-u2-frontmans-charity-gap-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/492167\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen apologises to Bono for refusing to license song for U2 frontman’s charity GAP ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruce Springsteen<\/a> has apologised to Bono<\/a> for refusing to license \u2018Girls in Their Summer Clothes\u2019 for an advert for the clothing brand GAP in partnership with Bono\u2019s AIDS foundation (RED).<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0\u2018Bono: Stories of Surrender\u2019 review: U2 frontman\u2019s stunning stage show becomes unmissable film<\/a><\/p>\n

While presenting Springsteen with the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award at Tribeca Festival last night (June 13),\u00a0the U2<\/a> frontman recalled asking him to license the 2007 track after he\u2019d joined forces with the clothing brand for the (PRODUCT) RED campaign, which raised money to fight HIV\/AIDS in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big mistake,\u201d Springsteen said, drawing laughs. \u201cI should have said yes.\u201d He called the song one of his \u201cpersonal favourites\u201d and one that the \u201caudience doesn\u2019t really care\u201d about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just a song that I love,\u201d he continued. \u201cDamn it, I still think back: \u2018Bono asked you to put this thing on a commercial on television.\u2019 I should have fucking done it! People would hear it like a hit, you know? So I have to apologise.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the event, Tribeca Festival founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal introduced Bono, who then heaped praise on the \u2018Radio Nowhere\u2019 legend. \u201cBruce Springsteen is America,\u201d Bono said. \u201cBruce made poetry from the voices of the people and set that poetry to music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe honour him tonight as a musician and poet and as an activist and a patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In conversation, Bono and Springsteen talked about bringing political resistance to the masses with Springsteen\u2019s \u00a0\u2018Land Of Hope And Dreams\u2019 tour<\/a>, throughout which he has used his time on stage to mount criticisms of the Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0regime.<\/p>\n

It was prompted by the killing of two Minneapolis citizens by ICE agents earlier in the year<\/a>, with the Boss saying that US citizens are \u201cliving through some very dark times\u201d as the \u201cAmerican values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, Bono voiced his support for Springsteen amid the\u00a0ongoing feud between the musician and the US President \u2013 which reached new last summer when Springsteen took to the stage in England and called Trump an \u201cunfit president\u201d and accused him of leading a \u201ccorrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump retaliated by taking to his Truth Social platform and\u00a0describing Springsteen as a \u201cdried-out prune of a rocker\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and \u201cnot a talented guy.\u201d He then\u00a0insinuated that there could be a federal investigation into the support for Kamala Harris from Springsteen<\/a>,\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>, Oprah, Bono and \u201cmany others\u201d, as well as\u00a0sharing a fake video that showed him knocking over Springsteen with a golf ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, Bono backed the heartland rocker<\/a>, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s only one Boss in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the conversation, Bono and Springsteen also touched on the ability of rock stars to connect with the working class, with the former saying he feared that the left \u201clost a little bit of it\u201d, and that \u201cthe accusations of elitism that are out there for people like me are not inaccurate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas it cost you?\u201d he then asked Springsteen. \u201cDo you feel torn at all thinking there\u2019s people in this town that used to come see my shows who don\u2019t now? Or have you made peace with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d Springsteen replied. \u201cYou have to do two things. There\u2019s the classic folk song, \u2018Which Side Are You On?\u2019: you have to make your stand and follow your beliefs, and you have to have the faith in them that they will be explicable and understandable by your fellow citizens. And you have to believe that America is a sacred argument and a compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

To round off the event, Patti Smith<\/a> \u2013 backed by Tony Shanahan \u2013 sang her 1988 track \u2018People Have the Power\u2019 in honour of Springsteen. Then, he and Bono joined for a reprisal, before Springsteen wrapped things up with \u2018Land of Hope and Dreams\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen has apologised to Bono for refusing to license \u2018Girls in Their Summer Clothes\u2019 for an advert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409,1548],"class_list":["post-492167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}