Green Day diss Elon Musk with altered American Idiot lyrics in South African concert
On Sunday, January 19, American rock band Green Day took aim at tech magnate Elon Musk during their performance at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium. The show was part of the Calabash 2025 festival and featured Green Day performing alongside The Offspring and Fokofpolisiekar.
While performing their 2004 hit American Idiot, singer Billie Joe Armstrong replaced the lyrics "I'm not a part of the redneck agenda" with "I'm not a part of the Elon agenda," delivering a direct critique of the billionaire tech mogul, who was born in Pretoria.
American Idiot is a single from Green Day's seventh studio album of the same name, released on August 6, 2004. The song carries themes of protest and was nominated for four awards at the Grammys in 2005, i.e., Record the Year, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song, and Best Music Video.
When Green Day and Elon Musk traded blows after the former's performance at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
This isn't the first time Green Day has taken a jab at Elon Musk. During the 2023 New Year's Rockin' Eve performance, the band altered the lyrics to American Idiot to sing, "I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda." This prompted Musk to call them out on X, writing:
"Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it."
In an interview with Rolling Stone published in January 2024, the band's bassist, Mike Dirnt, explained why Billie Joe changed the lyrics during their performance.
“Elon Musk actually is the machine. I can’t take anything else from that. He’s not shy about saying stupid sh– on the internet. Whatever. The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect?” he quipped.
The band's bassist went on to explain that they had previously wanted to release politically charged songs but refrained from doing so during Donald Trump's administration.
“First it was rhetorical, and then it got into conversation. Anytime you can get people talking, you’re always going to have the loudest voices [heard first], and then everyone else in the room is going to figure out what it really means,” he said.
Talking about releasing political songs during Trump's reign, he said:
“We all knew it was low-hanging fruit. We’re not a parody of who we are, and songs like that need time to be fleshed out. If that means just sitting back and letting life happen, so be it.”
Green Day has a long history of protesting against staunch political figures through their music. In 2016, they famously chanted, "No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA" during their performance at the American Music Awards in 2016.
They also released "Ultimate Nimrod" t-shirts in 2023 featuring a mugshot-styled photo of Donald Trump and donated the proceeds to support Maui wildfire relief efforts.
Elon Musk faces backlash over alleged salute during Donald Trump's inauguration as 47th President of the United States
On January 20, President-elect Donald Trump assumed office for the second time as the 47th President of the United States. Elon Musk, who has consistently supported the 78-year-old during his election campaign, sparked severe backlash online following a salute after Trump's speech at that event.
Many fans likened Musk's salute to the infamous Nazi salute. CNN anchor Erin Burnett commented, "By far the biggest reception of the day. You saw him come out with that odd-looking salute. "
However, the tech mogul expressed his enthusiasm for Donald Trump's victory over Kamala Harris before his controversial salute went viral.
"This is what victory feels like. And this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization. Elections come and go. Some elections are, you know, important, some are not. But this one, this one, this one really matters," he said.
Donald Trump also appointed Elon Musk as the head of the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). During his speech, he thanked the public for making it happen and assured them that they would take DOGE to Mars.
As of now, the Tesla CEO has yet to comment on Green Day's jibe and the salute controversy.
