NEW YORK (CAP) - Authorities had to be called in Friday night in the wake of Bruce Springsteen's appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, when Fallon, NBC News anchor Brian Williams and Jon Stewart of The Daily Show got into a barroom brawl over which of them "loved Bruce most."
The altercation apparently occurred at a restaurant and pub called The War Room, not far from NBC studios where the appearance was filmed. Fallon, Williams and Stewart were there with Springsteen and his entourage, and "they'd all had a few drinks," according to Mark Polaceti, a witness who was in the bar at the time.
"First there was this big hoo-ha over who was going to sit next to [Springsteen]," said Polaceti. "Stewart and Brian Williams both tried to sit down next to him in the same chair and spent like five minutes trying to nudge the other one off ... Eventually they both just shared the chair, which seemed extremely awkward."
Then Fallon started leaning in close to Springsteen and telling him how "awesome, just awesome" he'd been on the show and how great he was in general ("great, just great!") and Williams told him to "back off."
"I was going to this man's concerts when you were still peeing in your diapers, Fallon," Williams allegedly said. "And yes, I'm referring to when you were working on Saturday Night Live."
"Yeah, well I've been listening to him since I was a loser kid in Jersey," Stewart interjected, prompting Williams to respond, "So what? I was a loser kid in Jersey too." At which point Stewart asked him, "Really? What exit?"
"Then Williams slugged him," said Polaceti.
Before long the three of them were wrestling across the table and onto the floor, exacerbating a foot injury Fallon had suffered while jamming on his show with Springsteen during a performance of The E Street Shuffle.
"Apparently one of the awkward white people Springsteen called up from the audience danced into him, and he dropped his cowbell on his toe," said an NBC spokesman.
According to sources close to Springsteen, this isn't the first time the rocker has run into trouble with his celebrity fan base. He was reportedly considering taking out a restraining order on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has shown up at Springsteen's Colt's Neck home to ask him to perform at every public event held in New Jersey since 2009, and to be his running mate in 2016.
Springsteen has also had another celebrity fan, Billy Joel, living in his barn since their joint appearance at Sting's 60th birthday party in September, on the heels of Joel's near-fatal collision with Jerry Seinfeld. Springsteen has mentioned Joel several times on Twitter using his twitter handle "Boss1949," such as in October when he tweeted:
"Saw Billy Joel's face at the window, so we invited him in for meat loaf. Afterward he said 'Thanks - if you need me, I'll be in the barn.' He's never leaving, is he?"
For his part, witnesses said Springsteen looked highly uncomfortable as Williams, Fallon and Stewart wrestled each other for his attention, and finally got up and yelled, "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is The War Room!" Then he told everybody to "shut the [expletive] up," and left.
According to police reports, the three men went along peacefully when escorted out by authorities, but started fighting again in the squad car when Fallon insisted that Tunnel Of Love was a better album than The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, and Williams slugged him.
- CAP News Staff