Green Day repeat recent anti-MAGA lyrics tweak during Jimmy Fallon appearance

Proving, if nothing else, that there’s no level of gentleness with which you can poke the ulcerous bear of American far-right conservatism without generating at least a small belch of briefly incandescent rage, Green Day has taken up the job of tweaking the noses of Donald Trump supporters in a more determined form over the last few weeks. Right at the start of the year, Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates irked the right-wing during a performance at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve, when they performed their 2004 protest hit “American Idiot” with a lyrics tweak they’ve been using since 2019, changing out the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” for “MAGA agenda.”

Now, at the risk of being unkind, we will note the obvious, and point out that this kind of simple lyric swap is not the most extreme expression of political anger imaginable. Still, pretty incendiary stuff for a show that grampas snooze to on New Year’s Eve—and it elicited at least a few spasms of anger from the far right, unhappy at being confronted by even the mildest hints of public defiance.

This week, the band—who’re making the rounds at the moment because they’ve just released their 14th studio album, Saviors—revived the conversation at a famously hair-tousling venue, busting out “American Idiot” on behalf of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. Well, technically, on its YouTube channel: The band appeared in one of Fallon’s stunt-y segments, busking in the subway in very obvious disguises before revealing that, no, it was Green Day! (And their friend, Jimmy Fallon.) That included an extended online segment where they played “Idiot,” where, interestingly, the band didn’t do the MAGA lyrics—because they didn’t have to, with the crowd on the platform supplying the modified line in unison, Armstrong smiling happily in response. Which, fair’s fair, is a good reminder that, while we might poke a little fun, ourselves, at the bands’ general “dads in their 50s can still fight the man!” vibe, these guys do still have their hearts in the right place, and an enormous amount of influence amongst their fans. (Also, they still sound pretty good—at least, when Fallon wasn’t hogging the mic.) And every little bit helps during an election year, which, our screaming minds are continually driven to remind us, 2024 is.