Bruce Springsteen performs 'Streets of Minneapolis' on Colbert's Late Show in a pointed farewell

The Boss shows up, again, at the right moment

Bruce Springsteen has a habit of arriving exactly when the moment calls for it. On Wednesday, May 20, he walked onto the set of The Late Show for Stephen Colbert's second-to-last episode and delivered what felt less like a TV appearance and more like a public statement. According to Billboard, Springsteen gave a pro-democracy speech before performing his song 'Streets of Minneapolis', telling the audience that Colbert was "the first guy in America who lost his show because we've got a president who can't take a joke."

A jab at the Ellison family and Paramount

Springsteen did not stop there. He also took aim at Larry Ellison and his son David, who now own Paramount Global following their $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, a deal that handed them control of CBS. "They've got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about," he said. CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show in July 2025, citing financial losses, though figures including Senator Elizabeth Warren have publicly suggested the decision was political, coming after Colbert criticized Paramount's $16 million legal settlement with Trump.

The song and its origins

'Streets of Minneapolis' is not a throwaway protest track. Springsteen wrote and recorded it following the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, during Operation Metro Surge, a targeted ICE enforcement action against undocumented immigrants. He premiered it live on January 30 at the Defend Minnesota benefit concert, organized by Tom Morello. The song went on to debut at No. 1 on Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart dated February 7, despite being available for only two days of the tracking period. Springsteen has pledged to donate all proceeds from the recording to the Good and Pretti families, in perpetuity.

Eleven years, and then the curtain

Colbert's final episode of The Late Show aired Thursday, May 21, closing an 11-year run on CBS. Whatever the official explanation, Springsteen's appearance framed the ending as something beyond a network scheduling decision. Whether that framing is fair or not, it is now part of the record.