Green Day reworks ‘American Idiot’ lyrics to trash ‘MAGA agenda’

During a New Year’s Eve performance of their hit song “American Idiot,” legendary punk band Green Day changed its lyrics to take a shot at former President Trump and his followers.

Playing the 2004 hit for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC Sunday night, the band changed the lyrics of the second verse for the MAGA take down.

Though lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong appeared to garble the lyrics, multiple outlets reported that he sang, “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda,” instead of the original, “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda.”

Either way, the words “MAGA agenda” could be clearly made out during the performance, which appeared to elicit cheers from the audience. 

The song was written as a protest of American culture in the post-9/11 era, with verses summing up the band’s discontent with the country. The original lyrics of the second verse state, “Well, maybe I’m the f——, America. I’m not a part of a redneck agenda. Now everybody, do the propaganda. And sing along to the age of paranoia.”

Their New Year’s Eve performance wasn’t the first time the band’s members have performed the song with these anti-Trump lyrics. During the 2019 iHeartRadio festival in Las Vegas, Green Day sang the same “MAGA Agenda” lyrics. 

And during a performance of their other song “Bang Bang” during the 2016 American Music Awards, Armstrong chanted, “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!”

The lead singer’s disdain for Trump and conservative political causes has never been a secret. That same year, Armstrong compared Trump to Adolf Hitler in an interview with Kerrang! magazine.

He said, “The worst problem I see about Trump is who his followers are. I actually feel bad for them, because they’re poor, working-class people who can’t get a leg up. They’re just p—– off and he’s preyed on their anger.”

“He just said, ‘You have no options and I’m the only one, and I’m going to take care of it myself.’ I mean, that’s f—— Hitler, man!” the musician added. 

In between songs during a set in France in 2018, Armstrong spoke to the audience about Trump, saying, “I f—— hate Donald Trump so much. I used to scream I hated George Bush. This one is a little different. This one is bad, it’s like acid gone bad. F—ing LSD and the American Right, man.”

And in response to Roe v. Wade being overturned in 2022, Armstrong told an audience in London he was “renouncing” his U.S. citizenship. He said, “F— America, I’m f—— renouncing my citizenship. I’m f—— coming here.”

“There’s just too much f—— stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f—— excuse for a country. Oh, I’m not kidding. You’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days,” the frontman added.