Green Day have taken a jab at US President Donald Trump while performing at Ohana Festival on Sunday (September 28) – see what frontman Billie Joe Armstrong had to say below.
Shortly before Green Day’s headline set at the festival in Dana Point, CA, a rocket took flight nearby, and was visible during Cage The Elephant‘s performance.
During an extended bridge while performing ‘Hitchin’ A Ride’, Green Day frontman Armstrong took some time to engage with the audience, where he broached the topic of the rocket that had launched a few short hours before.
“A rocket? Is that what that was?” Armstrong asked, before continuing: “I was like, ‘There goes the Epstein files!” The crowd cheered at the quip, as did bassist Mike Dirnt, who was seen bellowing in laughter onstage.
@greenday_ita Bye bye Epstein Files 👋🏼👋🏼 Green Day during Hitchin a ride, Ohana festival, talking about a rocket that was launched before their set #greenday #epstein
Armstrong then suggested that the rocket launch was orchestrated by Tesla owner and Trump’s buddy Elon Musk: “Oh, Elon! Him and his ugly trucks. I’m in Orange County a lot, and I see a lot of those fuckin’ trucks. Can’t you be a regular redneck and just have a fuckin’ Ram?”
Green Day’s dig at Trump comes after the President actively promised supporters that he would release the Epstein Files, but has since walked back the promise – Musk and Trump have been tied to the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein for several years, with the current President being friends with the felon in the past. Meanwhile, Musk was just name-dropped in several Epstein-related documents that were made public a few days ago.
Armstrong and co. have long been vocal critics of Trump and his policies. Early in June, the frontman took to social media to speak out against Trump’s authorising of ICE raids across Los Angeles: “Fuck off.” Less than two weeks later, Green Day slammed Trump and Elon Musk at their Download Festival headline set, asking the crowd to call Trump a “fat bastard”, also telling them: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are slipping into fascism… it’s up to us to fight back!”
While performing on Independence Day (July 4), Armstrong led chants of “Fuck Donald Trump”, just hours after Trump signed his much-criticised One Big Beautiful Bill into law. According to the White House, the bill includes “the largest tax cut in history for middle- and working-classing Americans”, “hiring thousands of new ICE officers and Border Patrol agents”, “blocking illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid”, “funding the Golden Dome missile defense system” and “mordernising” the military.
Back at the American Music Awards (AMA) in 2016, the band led a chant of “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA”, and went on to announce a limited-time sale of a t-shirt featuring Trump‘s mugshot for charity in 2023.
In the lead-up to last year’s US Presidential elections, Armstrong had urgently encouraged fans to vote for Kamala Harris instead: “Vote for Harris. I think there’s probably a lot of things that people disagree with, but the one thing that we do agree on, is Trump has got to go and we need to turn the page.”
In other news, Green Day earlier this month shared the first trailer for their new road trip comedy film New Years Rev. The film was first announced back in February, with Variety reporting at the time that it was a road trip comedy produced by all three band members and directed by Lee Kirk. The band then put out a casting call for the film, asking for “punks, emo, hardcore, alternative and rocker young adults”.