Green Day condemn Elon Musk during South Africa concert
While performing their classic punk anthem ‘American Idiot’ on January 19th, Green Day took the opportunity to lament billionaire Elon Musk. The concert took place just one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, which Musk attended as a key influence on the incoming presidency.
Performing at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong swapped out some lyrics within the iconic song to attack Musk, who is from Pretoria in South Africa. Instead of singing the lyric, “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda,“ Armstrong declared, “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda.”
This is not the first time Armstrong has changed that particular lyric to reflect the changing political landscape. Back in 2023, during an appearance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve concert, the band sang, “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda,” attacking Donald Trump and his cult-like following.
In response to that 2023 show, Musk posted on his own social media platform, X, to denounce Green Day. “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it,” he wrote, accompanied by two crying laughing emojis. The post is reflective of Musk’s endless support for Trump over recent years, which has now seen him become a major influence over the president and, by extension, part of the US government.
“Elon Musk actually is the machine,” bassist Mike Dirnt told The Independent at the time. “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?”
The news of Green Day’s recent attack on Elon Musk has been somewhat overshadowed by the tech billionaire’s appearance at Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. During his speech at the event, at the US Capitol building, Musk appeared to perform two salutes to the crowd and the American flag.
Although the gesture was instantly recognisable as a Roman salute – pounding his heart and then extending his right arm towards the sky – Musk has since downplayed the incident. Posting on X, he argued, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is so tired.”
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