Did singer Bruce Springsteen wear a shirt that reads, "KEEP AMERICA TRUMPLESS"? No, that's not true: The text on the shirt was added after the photo was taken. Lead Stories found two credible sources, Vice and Getty Images, that show photos of Springsteen in the same pose, but with no text on the T-shirt.
The claim appeared on X, formerly Twitter, on December 2, 2023, (archived here) with text that read:
The Boss has a message for the ex-boss:
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
A reverse image search (archived here) of the photograph on TinEye, a reverse-image search engine, led to a 2019 Vice article (archived here) reviewing, "Springsteen on Broadway," a Broadway show focused on the American singer-songwriter. The first picture in the article has Springsteen in the same pose as the picture included in the X post, but with no text on his gray T-shirt. The picture is credited to Getty Images in the article. Lead Stories found the same photo (archived here) by searching the phrase, "Springsteen On Broadway" on Getty Images' website.
Lead Stories reached out to Springsteen's representatives and will update this story as appropriate if a response is received.
Springsteen has been vocal about his dislike of former President Donald Trump. The singer called Trump a "threat to our democracy" in a Billboard interview (archived here) in 2020, and expressed his desire for Americans to vote Trump out of office during his radio series, "From My Home To Yours," according to a 2020 USA Today article (archived here).
More Lead Stories fact checks on Bruce Springsteen are here.
