Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl Jeep commercial pulled following drink driving arrest

A controversial ad featuring the Boss has been removed after Bruce Springsteen was caught drinking and driving.

Legendary rocker Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen was arrested for drink-driving and reckless driving in his home state New Jersey, it was revealed just days after he appeared in a much-hyped Super Bowl commercial for Jeep.

The Born to Run icon, 71, was apprehended November at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, a spokesman for the National Parks Service said.

The area is about 80km south of the centre of Manhattan.

Springsteen was charged with DWI (driving while intoxicated), reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area. The spokesman said the rocker was cooperative throughout his arrest.

Springsteen performing in Spain in 2016. Picture: AFP

According to TMZ, which first reported the arrest, Springsteen has a court date in the coming weeks and has no known prior record for DWI.

News of the incident was revealed just days after Springsteen appeared in and narrated a Super Bowl advertisement for Jeep, in which he implored Americans to move toward the political “middle” in the spirit of unity amid recent bitter division.

Bruce Springsteen in a scene from the movie Western Stars. Picture: Warner Bros.

But three days on from news of the DWI coming to light, Jeep announced it would pull the advertisement.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate,” a spokesperson for Jeep told Rolling Stone. “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.”

The advertisement divided opinion, with many of his more left-leaning fans rejecting its call for all Americans to “meet in the middle”, saying they had no intention of making peace with the far right rioters who invaded the Capitol.

“There is hope, on the road, up ahead,” The Boss said in the advertisement – which was filmed in late January just weeks after his reported DWI arrest.

Bruce Springsteen in a scene from Jeep’s Super Bowl ad. Picture: Supplied

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that after the ad aired, “now comes the backlash”.

“Under a posting of the commercial, the top comments on Springsteen’s Twitter are slamming the rock icon, often criticised by fans for his left-leaning views, for the use of Christian imagery and the sentiment of unity in the wake of the January 6 Capitol raid,” the Post-Gazette said.

“The criticism wasn’t coming just from the left. Conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro said on his show Monday that the call for unity is just the left trying to coerce everyone to get on board with its agenda.”

Originally published as Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl Jeep commercial pulled following drink driving arrest