Green Day Take Swing At Donald Trump In TV Performance
Billie Joe Armstrong has once again upset right-wingers by dropping a reference to right-wing politics during his performance of a song about right-wing politics.
Green Day (Credit: Frank Maddocks)
Right-wingers have once again shown their lack of media literacy, hitting out at Green Day for including a swipe at ex-US President Donald Trump in a recent performance of American Idiot.
The iconic punk-rockers – who have loudly boasted their leftist stance since the start of their career – took to the stage at Times Square in New York City for the annual ABC special Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. During their performance of 2004 hit American Idiot, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong changed the lyric “I'm not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”, referencing Trump’s infamous slogan ‘Make America Great Again’.
"I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda..." -Green Day on New Year's #RockinEve tonight. pic.twitter.com/KdQua9QsFe
— Tony Morrison (@THETonyMorrison) January 1, 2024
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The lyric change makes sense, given that American Idiot was initially written to criticise the George W. Bush administration. By referencing the most recent disgraced ex-President to hold right-wing beliefs, they’ve simply updated the song for a modern audience.
Yet as expected, social media is ridden with tone-deaf commenters believing Green Day once stood on their side. One particularly sigh-worthy critic offered: “You know the more I thought about it, why did Green Day have to insert politics into their performance of American Idiot? We’re trying to get away from that for a few hours.”
This isn’t the first time Green Day have slammed Trump on national TV, either. For example in 2016, at that year’s American Music Awards, the band led the now-famous chant, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” In August of last year, too, they released a charity shirt gelling Trump’s mugshot with the artwork for their classic Nimrod album.
Meanwhile, Green Day will release Saviors – their 14th studio album, led by the single The American Dream Is Killing Me – on January 19. And fans Down Under will be happy to know that Armstrong and co. have begun teasing an Australian tour in support of it.
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