Green Day is catching heat from conservatives after the band knocked former President Donald Trump during their New Year's Eve performance.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang "I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda" instead of "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda" when the band performed "American Idiot" on ABC's Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang 'I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda' instead of 'I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.'
Green Day have hardly been shy about their politics: the original 2004 version of "American Idiot" was harshly critical of then-President George W. Bush. (Opposition to the Iraq War was a major theme of the band's concept album of the same name, as well as the hit Broadway musical that was lated adapted from it.) Nonetheless, fans of Trump's "Make America Great Again" agenda were unsurprisingly upset by the band's political commentary.
"Green Day has always been a band for weak little soy boys," one person said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "It doesn’t surprise me that they’d be for the party that wants complete control and dominance over our lives. Also doesn’t surprise me they’d bend over and spread it for the government by requiring vax cards for their concert. I think for myself, which makes me more of a 'punk' than anyone in Green Day ever could be."
He wasn't the only social media user who felt that way. "Greenday says they don’t want to be American idiots but then support Joe Biden. Which is it fellas?" another X user tweeted.
But there were also many who appreciated Green Day taking a strong stance against Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
"Oh no GreenDay has offended the people they were calling idiots 20 yrs ago and the idiots finally figured it out," one person said.
"Not rly a Green Day fan but pretty rad they’ve been playing American idiot for 2 decades and American idiots are still mad about it. Goals," said another.
Many social media users also approved of the band's political commentary.
But one X user took issue with what he saw as classism in the original "American Idiot" lyrics.
"I, at 30 years old only recently realized how stereotyped the southern redneck American has been for decades," the rapper Hi-Rez said. "Ya’ll have much more patience than I do because I would’ve (fought) back and spazzed a long time ago seeing all the misrepresentations in the media and hollywood... I used to feed into the idea that all rednecks were racist, toothless, bigot, conservatives because I never saw the truth firsthand for myself. I realized later in my life after making many redneck friends that these people are probably the nicest in the whole country."
Green Day is currently promoting its new album 'Saviors,' which is slated for a Jan. 29 release.
Green Day has taken over a SiriusXM station to promote their upcoming album Saviors, which is slated for a Jan. 19 release.
The crux of the group's tenure will come on Jan. 18. That's when Green Day will play Saviors in its entirety live on air at Irving Plaza in New York City one day before the album's official release.
Those looking to get an early taste of the upcoming album should check out Green Day's new track "Dilemma," which the band released alongside a music video on Dec. 7. The song appears to be about the pitfalls of substance abuse.
The band will also tour Europe and North America to support the new LP. Green Day will start in Monte do Gozo, Spain on May 30 and end in San Diego on Sept. 28.
