Donald Trump has struggled to find anyone—literally, anyone!—who wants to perform at his inauguration. When 3 Doors Down, a one-hit wonder from 2000, are your headliners, you probably know where you stand. But Trump is such a deeply toxic figure, even cover bands are dropping out of Trump-adjacent inauguration events: The B Street Band, the preeminent Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band cover band, has pulled out of the Garden State Presidential Inaugural Gala because of the backlash over the performance—and because of their deep respect for The Boss.

Founder Will Forte (no relation to the former SNL star), who is the band's keyboardist, manager, agent and publicist, sent a statement to Springsteen-online magazine Backstreets about their decision to drop the event.

With deepest apologies to our fans and the New Jersey Inaugural Ball committee, the B Street Band is withdrawing from performing at this year's inauguration Gala. Our decision is based SOLELY on the respect and gratitude we have for Bruce and the E Street Band. Bruce's music has been the foundation of our livelihood. The B Street Band would not exist without the talents of Bruce and our E Street brothers. We are most grateful to these rock legends and look forward to many more years of emulating and performing the Forever Music, of Bruce Springsteen.

Last week, after the initial outcry (it even made it into a New Yorker thinkpiece!) over the tribute band playing the gala, Forte tried to smooth over the situation. He told the Village Voice that the group had performed at the apolitical event in 2009 and 2013 in honor of Obama ("Every four years, the nonpartisan New Jersey State Society of Washington, DC sponsors a bipartisan inaugural gala in January regardless of which party wins the White House") and that the band had booked this year's gig four years ago.

But the negative headlines caused Forte to revisit his stance against canceling the contract. "As time went by, the complexity of the situation became real immense and intense," Forte told Rolling Stone. "The band was caught in a hurricane. We didn't see this coming, of course." It sounds like the major turning point may have been when two current and former E Street band members commented on the controversy (Springsteen himself has not commented).

Please tell me this is more fake news. Or at least a joke. https://t.co/I8pyvHKPsy — Garry Tallent (@gwtallent) January 12, 2017

Nice guys. Met them. I wouldn't say right or wrong. Up to them. But it's naive to think one can separate Art and Politics. Art IS Politics. https://t.co/yoAtWruY9B — Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) January 14, 2017

"We felt that we had to make it known that we didn't want to seem disrespectful, in any way, shape or form, to Bruce and his music and his band," Forte told Rolling Stone. "I don't want to upset them. We owe everything to him and our gratitude and respect to the band is imperative above all else. It became clear to us that this wasn't working and we just had to do what we thought was the right thing to do and that was to pull out."

The double self-own of the Springsteen tribute band you got [b/c Bruce would never do it] backing out of yr party https://t.co/7HTBojhApm — Ingrid Burrington (@lifewinning) January 16, 2017

Reading Forte's explanation for how everything went down, it's hard not to feel bad for the group, who sound rather apolitical in general. "I don't even know if they have any politics," he joked with RS. "All this stuff made it clear to us that this event is not worth it. It's just a job to us. We're just trying to hold up a contract. We're not trying to prove anything. We're just a fun band!"

On the plus side, this presents an opportunity for the C Street Band to finally hit the big time.