Why Springsteen Thinks this NJ Business Deal Makes Trump a ‘Bastard’

It's no secret that New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen does NOT like former President Donald Trump and vice versa.

But Springsteen specifically detailed a case apparently involving Trump and a Freehold music business many moons ago on his Wednesday, September 15 edition of his SiriusXM deejay show, "From My Home to Yours."

As reported in the Asbury Park Press, the theme of Wednesday's show was "Money Honey." As The Boss was introducing the song "Money Grabber" by Fitz and Tantrums, he told the story about how when he was a child, he took guitar lessons at the Freehold Music Center on Route 9, when it was located on South Street.

He said in 1989, Trump bought eight pianos for $100,000 for his Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, but The Donald then stiffed the owner of the music store on the deal. The Press reported that Michael Diehl has previously stated this as well.

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Springsteen then went on to describe the music store. He called it nothing too big. It came out of a small '50s-style ranch house.

"Some years later come, Donald Trump is building one of his damn casinos down in Atlantic City. Orders a bunch of pianos from my friend Mr. Diehl and of course, refuses to pay for them," Springsteen said. For Mr. Diel, $100,000 in pianos was a lot of pianos and a lot of money.

"That this bastard held out on this small-town music school owner, and finally agreed to pay him something like six on the dollar, was disgusting and it really hurt Mr. Diehl at the time," Springsteen added.

According to a previous USA Today Network New Jersey story, The Taj Mahal offered Diehl three options for payment: take 70 cents on the dollar, wait until the casino made a profit, or force it into bankruptcy proceedings and get pennies on the dollar.

In a 2016 interview prior to the presidential election, Diehl said he had no choice but to take the $70,000.

Springsteen then dedicated "Money Grabber" to "that (blanker) that's sitting down in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, right now, sucking on his shrimp scampi and lying to the rest of the nation."