Green Day have taken aim at Elon Musk – adjusting lyrics of their hit song American Idiot to slam the billionaire businessman.
The American rock group are currently on the road with their The Saviors Tour – which kicked off in May last year and will see them playing dates all the way through to 7 September. Over the weekend, the boys arrived at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a concert.
The group blasted through 37 tracks while on stage – and those in attendance noticed noticed some not so subtle changes in lyrics during the performance of one of Green Day’s biggest songs. The band – which consists of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool, all 52 – enjoyed chart success in 2004 with their track American Idiot.
The single was a political commentary on the administration of George W Bush and the Iraq War, but the group adjusted lyrics to reflect current political climates. And they lashed out at ardent President Trump supporter, Elon Musk.
Singing the track, Billie Joe swapped out the line “redneck agenda” to sing “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda“ instead. The change in lyrics comes after Green Day previously changed words during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve gig in December 2023 where they made reference to Trump, similarly singing: “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”.
Elon had hit back at the band at the time, writing via X in early 2024: “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it,” followed by a pair of crying with laughter emojis. It’s not just Billy Joe who has slammed Musk as bassist Mike also took aim at the billionaire.
In a past chat with The Independent, the bassist said: “Elon Musk actually is the machine. I can’t take anything else from that. He’s not shy about saying stupid shit on the internet. Whatever. The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect? ”
On Monday, Trump returned to the White House after being voted back to power in the 2024 US presidential election. A glitzy inauguration ceremony was held in Washington DC and attended by a string of stars.
Elon gave a speech during the day of proceedings, telling crowds: “This is what victory feels like. And this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilisation. There are elections that come and go. Some are important and some are not. ”
He continued: “This one really mattered and I just wanted to say thank you for making it happen. Thank you. My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is secured. Thanks to you. ”
He caused a backlash, however, when he put his hand on his heart and then swept his hand out towards the crowds in a movement that some have compared to a Nazi salute. Slamming the suggestion on X, the Teslar businessman wrote: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired. “
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Source: Mirror
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