On “American Idiot,” the title track from Green Day‘s 2004 rock opera, Billie Joe Armstrong sings that he’s “not a part of a redneck agenda.” That lyric was changed to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda” while the band performed on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest, and it got another tweak during a show this week at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Armstrong now sings, “I’m not a part of an Elon agenda,” a reference to Elon Musk’s cozy relationship with President Donald Trump.
You can watch the video here.
Musk previously accused Green Day of “raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it.”
When speaking about the “MAGA” agenda” lyric change, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt told Rolling Stone, “The song’s 20 years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect? Come on.” He continued, “I think the best part about it is that it provoked conversation. It got people talking. 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.”