A Bruce Springsteen fan club with nearly 20,000 members on Facebook has shut down, its founders say, after years of infighting over the singer’s political activism came to a head following his endorsement of Michigan Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed.
The group, known as Spring-Nuts, told its more than 18,000 Facebook followers that it was ending operations and that members would need to find other outlets for their fandom. The club’s Facebook page has since been deleted.
The club had originally been built around a simple pledge: “Respect everyone’s choices and opinions. You don’t have to agree with them but you must respect them. NO DRAMA. No infighting here or you’re gone. That simple. That quick. No hesitations.”
Founder Howie Chaz told the Asbury Park Press that maintaining that standard became untenable as Springsteen grew more vocal about his political views.
“As Bruce became more outspoken about his politics, something we understood and respected as his absolute right, we found ourselves facing a difficult balancing act,” Chaz said. “How could we be a Bruce Springsteen fan community trying to protect that harmony and camaraderie and ignore messages and statements coming directly from the very artist who brought us all together?”
Chaz said the endorsement of El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race marked “the breaking point” for the club.
“As the world grew increasingly divisive, hostile, those tensions inevitably spilled into our little corner of the E Street world,” Chaz and his wife, Julie, said. “What should have been respectful differences of opinion too often deteriorated into personal attacks, bullying, insults, and some genuinely vile and hateful rhetoric.”
Chaz said the club had been founded on principles of “kindness, empathy, friendship and community,” but that those goals became difficult to sustain as Springsteen’s own public statements grew sharper.
Springsteen has made criticism of President Trump a recurring feature of his concerts in recent years, frequently addressing the crowd directly on political matters. He has described himself as pursuing what he calls “critical patriotism.”
“I believe in critical patriotism,” Springsteen told PBS NewsHour in July, when asked how his belief that “loving your country means telling the truth about it” has shaped his work.
He has also referred to Trump as “racist” and “treasonous” and has said he intends to keep speaking out through the 2026 midterms and into the 2028 election cycle.
