Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong says he will renounce his US citizenship following the decision by the US Supreme Court to repeal Roe v Wade, ending a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion.
Speaking at a packed London Stadium on (Friday) June 24 – which Green Day were playing as part of their ongoing Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer – Armstrong announced his plans in a strongly worded message.
“Fuck America,” he said. “I'm fucking renouncing my citizenship. I'm fucking coming here. There's just too much fucking stupid in the world to go back to that miserable fucking excuse for a country.”
After a lengthy applause from the audience, Armstrong added: “Oh, I'm not kidding. You're gonna get a lot of me in the coming days.”
Armstrong's criticism of the Supreme Court was continued during the band's performance the following day in Huddersfield, England, when – before playing American Idiot – he declared, “Fuck the Supreme Court of America”, calling the justices who voted to overturn Roe V Wade “pricks” (per the Daily Mail).
Fans might not have been surprised by the words of Billie Joe Armstrong, who has numerous times before used his Green Day platform to make political commentary.
Two of the band's most commercially successful albums – American Idiot (2004) and 21st Century Breakdown (2009) – were both strongly critical of George W Bush, who served as the 43rd President of the United States between 2001 and 2009.
In an apparent response to Armstrong's comments, Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael tweeted: “No one cares about anything enough to pack up and move out of the country. It's easy to say onstage, on TV and on social media; but, when's the last time you actually packed your bags for anything longer than a brief vacation and a quick return home? Stop bullshittin’.”
Billie Joe Armstrong was one of many guitarists criticizing the SCOTUS decision. Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello said it would result in a rise in illegal abortions, noting that his great grandmother “died from an illegal, unsafe abortion”.
In a statement posted on Pearl Jam's website and read out in concert by frontman Eddie Vedder, the band said: “No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the freedom to choose.”
Meanwhile, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick said those who voted to repeal Roe v Wade were “forcing unwanted pregnancies upon women”.
