Green Day were ‘censored’ by NBC (Image: Getty)
Green Day’s Super Bowl performance was eagerly anticipated, particularly amid the charged political atmosphere surrounding the event. Following the announcement that Bad Bunny would headline the halftime show, opinion amongst Americans became sharply divided, with right-wing critics expressing fury.
Despite the artist being an American citizen, the decision to feature his predominantly Spanish-language work was dubbed “un-American”. Yet as criticism mounted across the country, the NFL and Jay Z’s Roc Nation stood firm on their selection – before adding yet another controversial performer to the line-up. Green Day, celebrated for their intensely political punk anthems, was set to open proceedings.
Previously, the group has taken aim at Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and MAGA followers by altering the lyrics of their well-known tracks, American Idiot and Jesus of Suburbia. Their intentions for the Super Bowl performance remained “highly confidential.”
At a pre-event gathering on Saturday, they delivered one of their trademark lyric modifications. Yet during their match-day set, they toned down the political rhetoric and stuck to the original words, which contained some profanity.
NBC muted the sound when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang “Mind f*** America.” Viewers were less than impressed with this as one said: “NBC just censored Green Day lmaoooo.”
Another said: “What did Green Day say when they censored them?”
The band were also criticised (Image: Getty)
In addition to the toned-down audio, the band’s performances were also subtly modified. Fans quickly picked up on the fact that verses were missing from tracks, including American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
One fan said: “Okay so Green Day didn’t do the second verse of ‘American Idiot’ Am I surprised they didn’t do it? Not really I was partially expecting it, the heads at NFL probably told them: ‘We’ll let ya’ll perform but leave out the super blunt towards the president.'”
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Some fans suggested the band wouldn’t ‘risk a paycheque’ to take a swipe at the current administration. There was even speculation that they had been warned not to be too pointed in their performance.
One said: “think if green day were told they weren’t allowed to say anything i’m even more disappointed in them. i didn’t take them as a band who would allow themselves to be censored like that.”
Another added: “Green Day was so much tamer than I hoped. Was kinda holding out hope they’d make a statement given they’re a band that definitely might.”
A third noted: “Okay so Green Day played two songs that have lyrics that could have directly called out the government but omitted the verses that actually say that. Welp..”
However, even without altering the lyrics, their music continued to carry a deeply political message that proved sufficient to provoke right-wing critics.
Certain listeners took offence at the unmodified words as one said: “I don’t know at all anymore what to make of green day playing American idiot and saying ‘F*** america’ at the super bowl while the HoF comes out. What is anyone involved going for here.”
Another added: “I do enjoy Green Day’s music, and their coffee was great, but they are still borderline sh-tlibs,”.
The set featured four tracks altogether. The group kicked off with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) with Billie Joe holding back from singing the verses until towards the end of the song. Following this, they delivered a medley comprising Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and American Idiot.