Billie Joe Armstrong and his band changed lyrics to their song, taking aim at the Tesla billionaire as they took the stage in South Africa for the first time.
- January 21, 2025
AceShowbiz - Green Day unleashed a fiery anti-Elon Musk lyrics during the band's recent Johannesburg concert. The gig marked Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates' debut in South Africa.
While performing their iconic 2004 anthem "American Idiot," Armstrong altered the lyrics from "I'm not a part of the redneck agenda" into "I'm not a part of the Elon agenda," sending a clear message to the South African-born billionaire.
The show, part of the Calabash 2025 festival, also featured The Offspring and local punk rock heroes Fokofpolisiekar.
Green Day's diss went viral as Elon Musk sparked controversy with his hand gesture at an event celebrating Donald Trump's inauguration. While thanking Trump supporters, Musk placed his hand over his heart and then jerked his arm out stiffly with his palm down, an action resembling a Nazi salute.
This wasn't the first time Green Day has taken aim at Musk. Following their 2023 New Year's Rockin' Eve performance, where they altered the lyrics to "American Idiot" to denounce the "MAGA agenda," Musk criticized the band on X (formerly Twitter), tweeting, "Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it."
Bassist Mike Dirnt responded with characteristic punk rock wit, firing back at Musk on The Independent, "Elon Musk actually is the machine. I can't take anything else from that. He's not shy about saying stupid s**t on the internet. Whatever. The song's twenty years old, and we're Green Day. What did you expect?"
Green Day has a long history of using their platform to address political and social issues. Their 2016 American Music Awards performance targeted Donald Trump and included the chant "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."
