Green Day mainman Billie Joe Armstrong was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight over Labor Day Weekend after refusing a request from a flight attendant. The request? To pull up his pants.
Apparently the singer/guitarist's trousers were sagging a bit too low for comfort upon boarding the flight, and was asked by a flight attendant to pull them up.
Thankfully, an ABC reporter was on the plane at the time, and was able to capture quotes for posterity.
"Don't you have better things to worry about than that?" asked Armstrong, before then trying to take his seat. When he was warned that he could be thrown off the plane, the guitarist simply pleaded: "I'm just trying to get to my fucking seat."
Armstrong was then promptly asked to leave the flight, opting to take the next flight without further incident.
"As soon as we became aware of what had happened, we reached out to apologize for this customer's experience," said a Southwest representative. "He elected to take the next flight. We followed up with this customer and involved employees to get more details and, in our latest conversations, understand from the customer the situation was resolved to his satisfaction."
Billie Joe's sole comment on the incident came via his Twitter account, which read: "Just got kicked off a southwest flight because my pants sagged too low! What the fuck? No joke!"
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Say what you will about rock stars and planes -- Izzy, we're looking at you -- but ultimately Billie Joe handled himself like any weary traveler during a holiday weekend probably would have.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.
“We did Yellow Brick Road in 16 days! That’s the magic you get with a band like that”: Dee Murray was the centerpiece of the early Elton John band – and the last bassist to play onstage with John Lennon
“The Dumble amplifier is so transparent that, if you’re not a very refined player, it’s going to expose all of your flaws in your playing”: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on why playing through a Dumble doesn't guarantee a great sound