Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump upended the global alliance in support of Ukraine’s war against invader Russia, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong had a few thoughts on the shocking spectacle. At the kick-off the veteran punk provocateurs’ Australian tour on Saturday (March 1) at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, Armstrong once again switched up the lyrics to one of the band’s songs to send a unequivocal, harsh message to the current American administration.
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As the band continues its year-long anniversary celebration of the 20th anniversary of their career-peak punk rock opera American Idiot, Armstrong slipped some not-at-all-subtle commentary into the lyrics of “Jesus of Suburbia.” The move came a day after Trump and Vice President JD Vance attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office during a meeting meant to announce a deal on minerals aimed at ending the three-year war launched by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
“Am I retarded or am I just JD Vance,” Armstrong sang in a tweak to the original, politically incorrect-on-purpose line, “Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?” Offered without any additional commentary, the diss of the Hillbilly Elegy author who repeatedly lashed out at the war-time Ukrainian leader for not being solicitous and thankful enough for U.S. aid during the shocking Oval Office ambush was in keeping with Armstrong’s unabashed disdain for the MAGA universe.
Earlier in the song, Armstrong doubled-down on the band’s support for Ukraine, tweaking another line in the song from “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Anaheim to the Middle East” to “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Ukraine to the Middle East.”
In January, Armstrong took a swipe at another member of the MAGA-verse, unelected DOGE boss Elon Musk, whose slash-and-burn march through the federal government has sparked widespread criticism and fear among longtime civil servants whose jobs have been eliminated by the tens of thousands over the past month. Performing in the Tesla boss’ home country of South Africa, during a show in Cape Town Armstrong switched a favorite “American Idiot” lyric from “I’m not part of the redneck agenda” to “I’m not part of the Elon agenda.”
The singer pulled a similar move during their New Year’s Eve show in 2024, changing the line to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” It was just one of several times the stridently anti-fascist, anti-hate speech band has taken on Trump. In 2019, at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, they debuted the anti-MAGA “American Idiot” line and at the 2016 American Music Awards, Green Day took aim at the then president-elect while performing “Bang Bang,” with Armstrong chanting “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” in a nod to Trump’s endorsement by white supremacist group the KKK and the rise in racist attacks following his election.
Watch Green Day’s Vance reproach below.