Green Day rockers alter lyrics to ‘American Idiot’ to blast Trump while headlining Coachella

INDIO, CALIFORNIA: Green Day sensationally changed the lyrics of their hit song, ‘American Idiot’, to diss President Donald Trump during their performance at Coachella.

The rock band took the stage on day two of the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, April 12, where they altered the lyrics of ‘American Idiot’ to call out the “MAGA agenda”—a reference to Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ as they performed in front of a mighty crowd at the Empire Polo Club. 

Green Day, comprising frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, belted out a number of songs as part of their closing performance of day two, while also contemporizing their two-decade-old song to reflect their political stance.

Green Day disses Donald Trump and right-wingers during Coachella performance

During their electric performance over the weekend, the punk-rock band made their political affiliation clear and declared that they are not a part of the “MAGA agenda," as reported by Daily Mail.

At one point, frontman Armstrong sang the ‘American Idiot’, but replaced the original lyric "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda" to "I'm not part of the MAGA agenda."

The track, which is categorized as a protest song, was penned in 2004 to criticize the-then Republican President George W Bush. 

This is, however, not the first time that the Rodeo, California-based band made the same alteration to the lyrics. Previously, while appearing at Dick Clark's 2024 Rockin' New Year's Eve program, Green Day made the same changes in the lyrics, according to Los Angeles Times. 

Calling out the change, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk wrote on X, “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it.”

Retorting back with a fiery response, drummer Mike Dirnt shared his opinion about the X owner in an interview with Rolling Stone, and said, “Elon Musk actually is the machine.”

He continued, “I can't take anything else from that. He's not shy about saying stupid s**t on the internet. Whatever. The song's twenty years old, and we're Green Day. What did you expect?”

In 2019, the band also made the same ‘MAGA Agenda’ alteration to channelize their anger toward the then-President Donald Trump, while singing ‘American Idiot’ at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has never shied away from criticizing Donald Trump

One of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump, Billie Armstrong has never shied away from voicing his opinions about the 78-year-old Commander-in-Chief. 

Previously, during an interview with Kerrang! in 2019, he shared, “I mean, I draw no inspiration from the President of the United States, because he’s just … there’s nothing,” and added, “Trump gives me diarrhea, you know? I don’t want to write a song about it.”

In the following year, he again slammed the MAGA spearhead when he compared him to one of the most controversial political figures of history, Adolf Hitler, during an interview with Kerrang!

Armstrong said, “I think that [Trump is] the most divisive leader of a country since Adolf Hitler,” before adding, “It sounds melodramatic to say it, but living in America, it’s just true.”

Green Day included Elon Musk in their lyrics change for ‘American Idiot’

Green Day dissed not only Donald Trump by altering the lyrics, but also criticized his friend and the tech billionaire Elon Musk in multiple performances. 

While performing in Melbourne last month in March as part of their Saviors Tour, both the president and the Tesla owner fell under Green Day’s ire. 

While performing, Armstrong addressed the crowd and said, “Don't you want these f***ing politicians to shut the f*** up?” while continuing, “Don't you want Elon Musk to shut the f*** up? Don't you want Donald Trump to shut the f*** up?”

“I'm not gonna get angry. F*** that s**t. We don't need to see what's on Twitter. This is about us, everybody together,” said the lead singer. 

He further added elsewhere during the concert, “We're going to put all of our differences away right now. Australia, you're not as f***ed up as America.”

During their South Africa stop, they changed the ‘American Idiot’ lyrics to include, "I'm not a part of the Elon agenda" to diss the South Africa-born businessman. 

While the group has been consistently changing the lyrics of their Grammy-nominated protest song, during an interview with Billboard at the 2025 Grammy Awards, they shared the philosophy behind the stance. 

Armstrong explained, “I think American Idiot is like - it takes on a life of its own.”

“And so anytime that there's like, you know for a protest song, anytime that there's trouble in the world and times of uncertainty I think a lot of people connect to that song,” shared the singer, before adding, “So, you know, you can change a lyric here or change it there and then all of it sudden it just becomes current again.”