Jeep Pauses Springsteen Ad Following DWI Arrest Report

The unity-themed Jeep commercial featuring Bruce Springsteen appears to have been removed from YouTube, only days after it aired to the millions of Americans watching the Super Bowl.

The ad, titled “The Middle,” appeared on YouTube for several days, and was one of the most-watched commercials of the Super Bowl on YouTube, according to Deadline. It’s not clear when the video was taken down, but Jeep made the decision to “pause” the commercial after TMZ reported that Springsteen had been arrested — back in November — for a DWI in New Jersey.

A Jeep spokesperson told InsideHook in a statement Wednesday: “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.”

According to TMZ, Springsteen was arrested at Gateway National Recreation Area and will appear in court in the coming weeks. Officials cited him for a DWI, drinking alcohol in a closed area, and driving recklessly, law enforcement sources told the outlet. A spokesperson for the National Park Services told the New York Post that Springsteen was “cooperative” during the incident.

The two-minute Super Bowl commercial, Springsteen’s first, called on Americans to look past division and to focus on unity. Springsteen’s narration is featured throughout the commercial, and at various moments, the 71-year-old singer was shown in a jeep.

“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the lower 48. It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” said Springsteen in the commercial. “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.”

“Now fear has never been the best of who we are. And 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. It’s what connects us, and we need that connection,” Springsteen added. “We need the middle. 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 mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the road ahead.”

According to Variety, Springsteen only agreed to do the commercial at the start of 2021, and it was filmed in late January. The commercial still appears on his Twitter account:

The Middle. pic.twitter.com/dbsgWV35i0

— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) February 8, 2021

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