At Tribeca Festival, Bruce Springsteen accepted a social justice award while drawing a line around his role in politics—saying he’s “at best” a concerned citizen. He dedicated the honor to protesters nationwide, including those he linked to Minneapolis and Los
Just miles from the White House, Bruce Springsteen walked into Tribeca Festival’s panel discussion with a simple message for anyone picturing him in politics.
When the conversation turned to the idea that he might someday run for office. Springsteen dismissed the suggestion—then quickly reframed himself. Speaking June 13 during a panel at Tribeca Festival. where he received the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award. he told the crowd he has no plan for the kind of leadership that comes with a campaign trail. “At best, I’m a concerned citizen. I sing my songs and wish for the best. ” he said. following applause after someone from the audience urged him forward.
The moment landed in the middle of a larger exchange with Bono. who admitted he sometimes fears left-leaning voices are losing touch with the working class. Bono asked Springsteen if his politics have alienated fans—an ask that turned the panel into a test of whether protest music can stay connected to mainstream life.
Springsteen answered by talking about faith and common ground, and by insisting that people have to choose a side and live with it. “You do have to make your stand and follow your beliefs,” he said. “And have faith that they will be understandable by your fellow citizens.”
He added that he doesn’t see leaders capable of speaking to everyone at once. “The leaders, at the moment, I’m not sure I see anybody who has the capacity to come out and speak to all the people,” he said, before returning to his own lane: music built to carry people through hard times.
In the roughly half-hour conversation, Springsteen and Bono also talked about using their platforms for change. Springsteen said he’s “pissed off and angry. ” but that the work he’s made across decades has been built for “hard times like these. ” including a body of songs “built for hard times” that he described as always aimed “for the moment.”.
He said he believes America can get through the current divisive era, arguing that the country has to recognize “each other’s common humanity and dignity.” In his view, that principle is missing “from, obviously, the top of our administration on down.”
The award itself became a clear extension of that message. Springsteen said he dedicated the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award to protesters across the nation. tying his remarks to the backlash he’s been voicing against U.S. immigration crackdowns by federal officials that he said turned violent. Late last month, he wrapped his Land of Hope & Dreams American tour.
Earlier this year, Springsteen released the protest track “Streets of Minneapolis” in response to those U.S. immigration crackdowns. During his Tribeca remarks. he dedicated the award “for all the citizens of Minneapolis and Los Angeles and Portland. who stood against the federal invasion of their cities.” He added: “I’ll take this and keep this in their name.” The Trump administration has defended its actions in Minneapolis.
By the end of the ceremony. Patti Smith came out to perform “Peaceable Kingdom” and “People Have the Power. ” the latter of which featured backup from Springsteen. Bono. and Smith’s bandmate Tony Shanahan. Springsteen then took the stage for a solo. acoustic rendition of “Land of Hope and Dreams. ” dedicating the song to his wife. Patti Scialfa.
He closed the event with a quick line to the room: “God bless America, and go Knicks.” While he kept his jabs at President Donald Trump comparatively restrained for much of the night, the stage introduction made the confrontation unavoidable.
Robert De Niro—who was on hand to introduce Springsteen—praised him for being able to move people and “give voice to the powerless.” De Niro said Springsteen “uses it to lead the resistance. ” and named the problem directly. “He knows what the problem is and he names it: Donald J. Trump and his feckless enablers,” De Niro said. “That’s so important, because this isn’t about reasonable disputes on policy. This is about the corruption and megalomania of one person. Bruce Springsteen puts a face on it, and he does it with the words of a poet.”.
De Niro then broadened the attack from one president to the health of American institutions. saying: “Our democracy. our constitution. our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless. racist. incompetent. treasonous president.” He asked the audience to choose “hope over fear; democracy over authoritarianism; the rule of law over lawlessness; ethics over unbridled corruption; resistance over complacency; truth over lies; unity over division; and peace over war.”.
Springsteen, for his part, delivered a joke that drew cheers and laughter: “No one insults Trump better than Bob.”
De Niro and Trump have had a long-running feud. The White House was reached out to for comment, and in the past the president has posted on Truth Social that De Niro has “an extremely low IQ, who has absolutely no idea what he is doing or saying.”
The night, in the end, held two ideas in the same frame: Springsteen’s insistence that he won’t trade songs for a campaign, and the way he still used the award—just blocks from the White House—to spotlight protesters and criticize the Trump administration’s stance from “the top” downward.
Bruce Springsteen Tribeca Festival Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award Bono Robert De Niro Donald Trump ICE protests Minneapolis protests Land of Hope & Dreams tour protest track Streets of Minneapolis U.S. immigration crackdowns