Jeep to revive its Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl ad 'The Middle' after DWI and reckless driving charges against The Boss were thrown out by judge because he was WELL within legal limits
* Jeep said Wednesday that it will revive its Springsteen Super Bowl ad, The Middle, after his charges of DWI and reckless driving were thrown out
* The company pulled the ad on February 10 following news of The Boss' arrest
* The company said at the time that it had chosen to 'pause' its broadcast until the 'actual facts can be established'
* Following the court's ruling, in a statement to DailyMail.com, a Jeep spokesperson said the company would now 'unpause' the ad
* It's unclear when Jeep plans to re-publish the ad, as it is not currently visible on the company's YouTube page, as of early Wednesday evening
* Springsteen did plead guilty to one charge of drinking in a close space after admitting to the judge he'd taken 'two small shots of tequila'
* He was handed a $500 fine by the judge and ordered to pay it within a week
By LUKE KENTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:22 EST, 24 February 2021 | UPDATED: 17:29 EST, 24 February 2021
Car manufacturer Jeep has decided to revive its blockbuster Super Bowl ad featuring Bruce Springsteen after charges of DWI and reckless driving were thrown out against the singer by a New Jersey judge on Wednesday.
The 120-second ad, titled The Middle, which debuted at Super Bowl LIV on February 7, was pulled by Jeep just three days later after it was revealed The Boss, 71, had been arrested for drink driving offenses in a New Jersey federal park in November.
The company said at the time that it had chosen to 'pause' its broadcast until the 'actual facts can be established'.
During a virtual court arraignment Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss charges of DWI and reckless driving against Springsteen, because he was later found to be well within the state's limits.
Springsteen did, however, plead guilty to a charge of drinking in an enclosed space. He admitted to the judge he'd consumed 'two small shots of tequila' while riding his motorbike through the park in Sandy Hook.
He was handed a $500 fine by the judge and the other two charges were dismissed.
Responding to the hearing's outcome on Wednesday, a Jeep spokesperson told DailyMail.com: 'As we stated previously, we paused the commercial until the facts were established. Now, that the matter has been resolved, we are unpausing the film.'
It's unclear when Jeep plans to re-publish the ad, as it is not currently visible on the company's YouTube page, as of early Wednesday evening.
The Middle came as Springsteen's first ever commercial endorsement, having famously shunned ad work through out his decades-long career.
Spanning two minutes, The Middle features the Thunder Road singer driving through Lebanon, Kansas - near the geographic center of the country - in a 1980 Jeep CJ-5 and preaching calls for unity.
'It's no secret the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, servant and citizen, freedom and fear,' Springsteen intones, adding 'we need the middle.'
'Fear has never been the best of who we are,' the Boss continues. '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 mountaintop, through the desert . . . and we will cross this divide.'
The ad then ends with a dedication: 'To the ReUnited States of America.'
Springsteen's longtime manager, Jon Landau, revealed at the time that the decision for him to take part in Jeep's ad was entirely 'spontaneous' and came after years of the company courting him.
Landau told Rolling Stone the hit-maker had a heavy hand in the commercial's artist direction, explaining its script was 'substantially revised by Springsteen', adding that he also participated in the edit of the footage.
Landau said Springsteen 'controlled every second of what you see and hear, and that's why it feels so personal.'
Jeep hasn’t disclosed what fee Springsteen was paid for his appearance in the ad, nor has the company shared how much the commercial cost to make.
However, its likely to have cost tens of millions of dollars, with a 30-second spot of airtime during this year's Super Bowl costing around $5.5 million. At that price, Jeep's 120-second add would've cost around $22 million to air alone, without considering Springsteen's appearance fee.
On its debut airing, more than 96 million Americans had watched the advert. But within days it was pulled from television and from social media pages, when news of Springsteen's November drink driving arrest was finally made public on February 10.
Springsteen was arrested on November 14 near the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in Gateway National Recreation Area, a federal park along the northern New Jersey coast.
He was detained by park rangers on misdemeanor charges of DWI, reckless driving and drinking in a closed area after he was seen pulling over on his motorbike to pose for selfies with fans and accepting a shot of Patron tequila.
During a virtual court arraignment Wednesday, prosecutors said they could not meet the legal burden for drunken driving against Springsteen because his blood alcohol level was found to be .02 – well below the state’s threshold of .08.
Wearing a dark blazer, sweater and collared shirt, Springsteen sat next to his lawyer Mitchell Ansell during the appearance before Magistrate Judge Anthony Mautone.
He answered a series of brief questions from Ansell, acknowledging he had been drinking alcohol inside the park in the moments leading up to his arrest.
'I had two small shots of tequila,' Springsteen calmly confirmed for the judge.
After the singer entered his guilty plea to the drinking in a closed area charge, Mautone ordered him to pay a fine of $500, with additional costs of $40.
'I am going to impose nothing but a fine,' the judge said, adding that Springsteen has an incredibly clean driving history dating back to 1973, with only three violations, including the use of a handheld phone.
'Rarely would you see a driver’s abstract so devoid of any entries. I’m convinced a fine is the appropriate sentence in this case,' Mautone said.
The judge then asked Springsteen when he would be able to pay the fine by, to which he responded with a smile: 'I think I can pay that right away'.
The federal court then granted the prosecution's request to dismiss the additional two charges of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.
In a statement after the hearing, Springsteen's attorney said his client was 'pleased' with the outcome of the case.
'The prosecutor was unable to provide the necessary evidence and facts as it related to the charge of Driving under the Influence (DUI) and Reckless Driving and therefore, dismissed both of those charges,' Ansell said.
'Mr Springsteen, who has no previous criminal record of any kind, voluntarily plead guilty to a violation of consuming an alcoholic beverage in a closed area, agreeing to a fine of $500. We want to thank the Court and will have no further comment at this time.
Alcohol has been banned entirely from the Gateway National Park since 2019, and is prohibited from being brought onto its beaches, parking lots, park grounds, picnic areas and boating docks.
When Springsteen was approached by the park ranger on November 14, he admitted he'd consumed two shots of tequila in 20 minutes but refused to take an initial breathalyzer test.
In his report, the ranger wrote that Springsteen smelt strongly of alcohol', had 'glassy eyes', and was 'visibly swaying' back and forth.
During Wednesday's hearing, Assistant US Attorney Adam Baker confirmed that Springsteen had refused to take a breath test at the scene, put pointed out he was not required to do so by law.
He later underwent a breathalyzer test back at the rangers' station, as legally required, where his blood alcohol was found to be .02.
Under New Jersey state law, Baker said with such a blood alcohol level Springsteen would not even be considered 'preemptively impaired'. While state law does not apply in federal cases, Baker says prosecutors look to such laws to help guide them in federal disputes.
While Springsteen's blood alcohol was found to be well within the legal threshold, according to both state and federal law, an arresting officer can still charge a suspect with a level below .08 if they observe sufficient signs of impairment.
It's unclear if that was the case in Springsteen's arrest. The New Jersey Park Service has not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment on the matter.
All three of the charges against him carried up to $5,000 in fines and a 6-month term of imprisonment each.
Judge Mautone gave the rock star until next Wednesday to pay his $540 fine.
Sources close to Springsteen had previously called into question the legitimacy of the star's arrest and suggested the charges against him should be thrown out.
Speaking to CNN earlier this month, one source said: 'When this is all resolved, I think, people are gonna have some serious doubts about the seriousness of this, especially when the actual details of this are revealed, including the blood alcohol level.
'I don't know why they stopped him,' they continued. 'I mean technically you're not allowed to drink in a state park and I don't know, maybe, if a policeman sees somebody drinking and doesn't give them a ticket, they lose their job.'
In the park ranger's report, authored by R. L. Hayes, the officer said he had witnessed Springsteen 'consume a shot of Patron tequila' before getting on his motorcycle to 'start the engine'.
Hayes said he then informed the New Jersey-native that drinking inside Gateway National Recreation Area is 'prohibited'.
'The Patron bottle that the shot was poured out of was completely empty (750ml),' the ranger continued. '
'I asked Springsteen if he was leaving and he confirmed that he was going to drive out of the park.'
The ranger also said he 'observed four out of six clues on the horizontal gaze nystagmus test.'
'[Springsteen] was visibly swaying back and forth while I observed his eyes,' Hayes wrote.
'I observed five out of eight clues on the walk and turn test. Springsteen took 45 total steps during the walk and turn instead of the instructed 19. [He] refused to provide a sample on the preliminary breath test.'
A DWI in a national park is a misdemeanor federal offense, carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail and fines of up to $5,000. Probation can also be up to five years.
Springsteen, who previously owned a home in Rumson, a few towns from Sandy Hook, has filmed several music videos and other projects at the federal park.
For the cover of his 1987 album Tunnel of Love, Springsteen used the park's beach as his backdrop. Gateway was also the setting for video of his solo track 'Brilliant Disguise', and featured in his 2014 short film, Hunter of Invisible Game.
News of Springsteen's arrest took three months to come to light. It's currently unclear why.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9297059/Jeep-revive-Bruce-Springsteen-Super-Bowl-ad-DWI-charge-thrown-against-Boss.html
