Green Day swap lyrics of hit song to mock Elon Musk in his home country
Green Day have taken lyrical aim at Elon Musk while performing in his home country of South Africa.
The band’s frontman Billie Joe Armstrong reportedly switched a line in their 2004 hit “American Idiot” from “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda.”
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According to Billboard, the California punk band were making their first appearance in the country when they performed at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on January 19.
The show was part of the Calabash 2025 festival, which saw Green Day headline alongside The Offspring and local group Fokofpolisiekar.
The Independent has approached Green Day for comment.
The day after Green Day’s performance, Musk made headlines around the world when he was accused of giving a “Nazi salute” during an inauguration celebration for Donald Trump. In response, his former partner, the Canadian musician Grimes, said she was “happy to denounce Nazi-ism.”
This is not the first time Green Day have made a lyrical change to “American Idiot.” At a New Year’s Eve performance in 2023, the band took the stage at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and changed the line to: “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.”
The change upset Musk at the time, who tweeted: “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it.”
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In response, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt told Rolling Stone: “Elon Musk actually is the machine. I can’t take anything else from that. He’s not shy about saying stupid s*** on the internet. Whatever.”
Dirnt continued: “The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect?
The bassist added that the group was glad the switch-up ignited a conversation among those who watched the performance, explaining how the band have previously wanted to release political songs but chose not to do so during the first Trump 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.
Musk has not yet responded to Green Day’s most recent lyrical change, although he has spoken out about the controversy over his “Nazi” salute. While the world’s richest man did not outright deny that he was emulating a fascist salute when he twice shot his right arm in an angular direction with the palm facing down, he said his critics needed “better dirty tricks” because attacking their political opponents as Adolf Hitler is “sooo tired.”
