Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Coral Murphy Marcos

Green Day changes lyric to hit out at Trump in New Year’s Eve performance

Billie Joe Armstrong performs at London Stadium in June 2022.
Billie Joe Armstrong performs at London Stadium in June 2022. Photograph: Burak Çıngı/Redferns

Rock band Green Day altered the lyrics of their well-known song American Idiot to criticize Donald Trump during a televised New Year’s Eve performance.

During a set on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, the lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, replaced the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” with “I’m not a part of the Maga agenda”. The song was originally released to criticize former president George Bush in 2004.

Green Day fans flocked to social media to share the live performance during the New Year’s event with host Ryan Seacrest.

This isn’t the first time the band has targeted Trump. The rock band previously scorned the former president at the American Music Awards in 2016, and responded to Trump’s indictment in August with limited edition merchandise featuring his mugshot.

The band’s musical jab at Trump comes after a US House committee investigated the former US president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack promoted by his supporters. Many critics are sounding the alarm over a possible second Trump administration, signaling that the second time around could be much worse.

Trump also faces criticism for using inflammatory language, such as calling his leftwing opponents “vermin”, resembling Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric.

Green Day is set to release a new album described as “an invitation into Green Day’s brain” later this month.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.