Bruce Springsteen apparently had no time for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at his Brooklyn concert.
Video shared via X by journalist Mike Ryan showcased an awkward moment during Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Barclays Center show on Thursday, May 14.
As “The Boss,” walked through the crowd to shake hands with fans, Christie, 63, stuck out his own hand — and was seemingly ignored when Springsteen, 76, walked past him. Christie immediately pulled back his hand, shrugged and resumed clapping along with the music.
Us Weekly has reached out to Christie and Springsteen’s representatives for comment.
Springsteen and Christie have a somewhat contentious history. The former governor is a self-professed Springsteen super-fan who has boasted of attending more than 100 of the rocker’s concerts over the years.
“No one is beyond the reach of Bruce,” he once told The Atlantic.
Former President Barack Obama connected the two for the first time in November 2012 while Springsteen was riding on Air Force One. During a phone call about Hurricane Sandy, Obama told Christie that Springsteen wanted to speak to him and they had a brief conversation, per Variety.
That same month, Springsteen and Christie greeted one another backstage at a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attends Bruce Springsteen’s concert in September 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“We hugged,” Christie told reporters of his in-person meeting with his musical idol. “He told me it’s official: we’re friends. I told the president today, actually, that the hug was great and when we got home, there was a lot of weeping because of the hug. And the president asked why. I said, ‘Well, to be honest, I was the one doing the weeping.’”
However, Springsteen later poked fun at Christie during the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal. (Christie’s staff was accused of deliberately causing traffic jams near Fort Lee, New Jersey, by ordering the closure of a toll plaza. This political maneuvering was seen as retribution for Fort Lee’s Mayor Mark Sokolich opposing Christie’s administration.)
Christie was not criminally charged over the “Bridgegate” scandal, though many pundits suggested that the controversy eroded support for his ill-fated presidential campaign in 2016.
President Donald Trump asked his supporters to boycott Bruce Springsteen after the musician kicked off his latest tour. “Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump […]
At the height of the controversy, Springsteen joined Jimmy Fallon on his Late Night show in 2014 to sing a parody version of “Born to Run” about “Bridgegate.”
“Baby this Bridgegate was just payback / It’s a bitch slap to the state Democrats,” Fallon, 51, and Springsteen sang. “We got to get out while we can / We’re stuck in Governor Chris Christie’s Fort Lee-New Jersey traffic jam!”
More recently, Springsteen offered an olive branch to President Donald Trump amid a years-long public feud. During an Austin, Texas concert on April 26, Springsteen lled his audience in a prayer after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
“We begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas, we pray for their safe return,” Springsteen told fans. “We also send out a prayer of thanks that our president, nor anyone in the administration, nor anyone attending, was injured at last night’s incident at the [White House] press correspondents’ dinner.”
He went on, “We can disagree. We can be critical of those in power, and we can peacefully fight for our beliefs. But there is no place in any way, shape, or form for political violence of any kind in our beloved United States.”
Suspected shooter Cole Tomas Allen allegedly opened fire at the Washington Hilton on April 25 while President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other officials from their administration were attending the dinner.
Allen, 31, was apprehended after injuring a Secret Service agent. He later pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
