Today (January 1) is the first day of 2024, which means that Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve was last night. Performing on the broadcast were a number of artists, including Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Green Day. The latter used their time on stage to make a statement about their feelings on Donald Trump.
The opening lines of the song’s second verse originally go, “Well, maybe I’m the f*****, America / I’m not a part of a redneck agenda.” (The censored word is an LGBTQ+ slur; Armstrong has long identified as bisexual.) For New Year’s Rockin Eve, though, he changed the second line to, “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”
Just now on ABC’s New Years Bash with @RyanSeacrest — @GreenDay sings “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda”, changing the lyrics of ‘American Idiot’. #RockinEve pic.twitter.com/asqEfPyfOi
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 1, 2024
So basically, Armstrong had pretty much the exact opposite NYE as Vanilla Ice.
This actually isn’t the first time Armstrong has made this specific lyric change, as he sang the song this same way at the iHeartRadio Music Festival back in 2019. This New Year’s Eve special on network television is probably the biggest stage on which it has been showcased, though.
Around that time, he also explained that Trump hadn’t been an inspiration behind the band’s politically charged music, saying, “I mean, I draw no inspiration from the President of the United States, because he’s just… there’s nothing. Trump gives me diarrhea [laughs], you know? I don’t want to write a song about it!”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. .
