Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has always been outspoken, and it’s usually related to politics. He’s added anti-Trump lyrics into live shows, like when he changed the lyrics to American Idiot to, “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda,” during the 2023 New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show. Green Day is awesome about setting up voter registration booths outside of their shows, too. I’ve always admired that they do this.

As it turns out, politics isn’t the only thing that Billie Joe is passionate about. He’s also a huge fan of the Oakland Athletics, which is one of California’s five different baseball teams. For the last 57 years, the A’s have played at the Oakland Coliseum. Through a series of f-ckery going back decades, the A’s have been mismanaged. Last year, the team announced that they’d be leaving Oakland and headed to a brand new stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2028. Fans are understandably upset, and Billie Joe is one of them. During a concert in San Francisco on September 20, Armstrong went off on the whole situation, team owner John Fisher, and the city of Las Vegas itself, calling it “the worst sh-thole in America.” Predictably, people from Vegas got mad and now Green Day has been banned from two different Vegas radio stations.

Billie Joe Armstrong got Green Day banned by two Las Vegas radio stations after he insulted the city at a recent concert. The 52-year-old singer expressed his anger over his favorite baseball team, the Oakland A’s, relocating to Las Vegas while he was performing at San Francisco’s Oracle Park on Sept. 20.

“We don’t take no s–t from people like John f–king Fisher who sold out the Oakland A’s to Las f–king Vegas,” he said onstage, according to a video from the concert.

“I f–king hate Las Vegas. It’s the worst s–thole in America,” he added, as the audience cheered. John Fisher, 63, is the owner of the A’s. The team is moving to a new ballpark in Las Vegas after being based in Oakland, Calif., since 1968.

Following Armstrong’s comments, two different Las Vegas radio stations announced they stopped playing Green Day music. KOMP 92.3 wrote on Instagram, “KOMP 92.3 has pulled any and all Green Day from our playlist. It’s not us, Billie…it’s you. #vegas4ever.” The post featured a big red warning sign over Armstrong and his bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool’s faces.

X 107.5 announced on their website, “Well, Sin City heard him loud and clear — and X107.5 is not having it,” the statement reads. “In response to Armstrong’s inflammatory comments, the station is banning all Green Day music, effective immediately.”

“Considering he played a pop-up show at Fremont Country Club last year, we’re surprised at his comments. The show was spectacular! But now, Armstrong has crossed a line with Las Vegas locals,” the statement added. Carlota, a host on the station, added in a further statement, “Maybe he should take a look at the city and the people involved in that transaction than talking SMACK about the city of Las Vegas And hey, I hate to say it and as much as the Raiders suck but when they were in Oakland, they were worth a billion or two. Now they’re worth six. It was a good business decision and the A’s want some of that and I don’t blame that.”

Amid the drama, the “Holiday” singer posted a tribute to the A’s on Instagram last week.

“Me playing in the sand with my Oakland A’s hat,” Armstrong wrote, alongside a throwback photo of himself as a child around age 6. The athletics leaving Oakland is devastating. I feel for all the fans and the people that will lose their jobs because of greed.. 3 sports teams have left Oakland in the past 5 years Leaving a cultural hole in the east bay hearts and sport. I DO believe that Oakland will come back from this.”

Armstrong went on, “I’ll always remember driving to del Norte bart station taking the train to the games. Some of my favorite memories. My 4th grade teacher used to have the radio on in class so we can hear if Ricky Henderson was going to break the stolen base record. He did. Family friends crazy george Billy Ball…This one hurts.”

Back in August, Armstrong shared a video of himself vandalizing the A’s logo on the wall at the Toronto Blue Jays’ stadium. He covered the logo with green spray paint and wrote a “B” over the “A.”

[From NY Post]

As someone who married into a family of (then) San Diego Chargers fans, I kinda laughed a little bit when I read this. Mr. Rosie and my in-laws were devastated when the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, and my husband barely watches football anymore as a result. Now, it’s all Padres (baseball), all the time. They all used to gripe about LA to make themselves feel better (of course, they weren’t doing it on stage in front of a big audience, lol), but it all feels like this is just a part of sports trash talking? Does getting banned from radio play for trashing a city over a baseball team make Billie Joe more or less punk rocker? Maybe he was just cranky because someone woke him up before September ended.

Anyway, I feel really badly for A’s fans. Bud Selig, Fisher, and their general management team really did them dirty. If you’re interested, this video has a good explainer about the whole situation. I think their temporary stadium in Sacramento only holds a fraction of the number of fans, too, which means less people can see them play. I’m also pretty sure that their new agreement to play in Vegas isn’t completely finalized either. I don’t blame Billie Joe and the rest of their fans for being pissed off.

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Photos credit: IMAGO/John Barry/Avalon, Mike Gray/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon and Getty