Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, took Green Day to task after lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong made anti-Trump commentaru during the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special.
Armstrong altered the lyrics of the band’s popular 2004 song “American Idiot,” replacing the line “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda” with “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda.”
On Monday, Musk used his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to accuse the pop-punk group of straying from their original style.
“Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it,” he tweeted with a few laughing emojis.
Just now on ABC’s New Years Bash with @RyanSeacrest — @GreenDay sings “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”, changing the lyrics of ‘American Idiot’. #RockinEve pic.twitter.com/asqEfPyfOi
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 1, 2024
Formed in 1987 in California’s East Bay, Green Day has long been critical of conservative politicians, including former President Trump.
In a 2016 interview, Armstrong compared Trump to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, highlighting his concern for Trump’s followers who he felt the ex-president had manipulated.
“The worst problem I see about Trump is who his followers are,” Armstrong told Kerrang! magazine.
“I actually feel bad for them because they’re poor, working-class people who can’t get a leg up. They’re just pi**ed off, and he’s preyed on their anger.”
He claimed that Trump told his supporters that they had “no options” and he would “take care of it” himself.
“I mean, that’s f**king Hitler, man,” he exclaimed.
He also hasn’t been shy in the past about expressing his intense dislike for Trump to the band’s audiences.
“I f**king hate Donald Trump so much,” he said during a 2018 concert in France.
“I used to scream I hated George Bush,” he said about the former two-term Republican president.
Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it 🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2024
“This one is a little different,” Armstrong continued. “This one is bad, it’s like acid gone bad. F**king LSD and the American right, man.”
In November, the Green Day frontman indicated that the band’s upcoming album Saviors was going to be their most political in years and will feature a single titled “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”
During a radio interview, Armstrong said that the single was years old, but they shelved it.
“We didn’t want to go political because it was so obvious, and it was such low-hanging fruit, because we had such terrible politics and terrible division in the United States,” he told 102.1 the Edge.
“We got away from the politics for a while… we just didn’t want to be, you know, another pundit on CNN finger-pointing.”
He explained that releasing political music is about timing and being in the right headspace.
“[With] political songs, it takes a lot of heart to do that, and I think if you keep doing it for the sake of doing it just because you’re angry, then you take the heart out of it,” Armstrong remarked.
“Then it just becomes part of what everyone is complaining about.”
Prior to Green Day’s performance on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special, host Ryan Seacrest interviewed President Biden, which was pre-taped on Saturday from his vacation spot in St. Croix.
Seacrest lobbed the President, who was flanked by first lady Jill Biden, softball questions that he still managed to stumble over.
BIDEN (between coughs): "I've been eating everything that's put in front of me! I've eaten pasta, which I love. Eaten a lot of chicken, chicken parmesan…"
JILL, ED.D.: "And ice cream!" pic.twitter.com/MIY4Inbv69
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 1, 2024
“I’m curious, what sorts of holiday foods have you been enjoying over the last few days?” the former “American Idol” host asked.
“Well, I’ve been eating everything that’s put in front of me,” Biden bumbled.
“But I’ve eaten pasta, which I love. I’ve eaten a lot of chicken, chicken Parmesan, I’ve been eating all Italian foods, basically.”
That’s when Dr. Jill cut in to remind him about the food he is famously fond of. “And ice cream,” she told the President.
“And ice cream,” he parroted. “Chocolate chip ice cream.”