Green Day‘s music has been banned from two Las Vegas radio stations after Billie Joe Armstrong called the city “the worst shithole in America.”
Armstrong’s comments stemmed from his beloved Oakland Athletics’ upcoming move to the Sin City. Like many, Armstrong is incensed about his hometown MLB team’s unceremonious relocation to Las Vegas and owner John Fisher’s apparent disregard for the team’s deeply loyal fanbase. The A’s just played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum this past Thursday (September 26th) in front of a sell-out crowd, ending a 57-year run in the Bay Area despite fans’ ongoing pleas for Fisher to “Sell the Team.”
Armstrong put in his two cents on the matter during Green Day’s concert at Oracle Park in San Francisco on September 20th.
“We don’t take shit from people like fucking John Fisher,” Armstrong said on stage, [via KRON 4] before adding: “I hate Las Vegas. It’s the worst shithole in America.”
While his pointed remarks echo the thoughts of many A’s fans — the NFL’s Raiders also relocated to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020 — those in Vegas didn’t take too kindly to the personal attack on the city, and now two radio stations have banned Green Day’s music because of it.
KOMP 92.3 in Vegas took to Instagram to declare that it has “pulled any and all Green Day” from its playlist. “It’s not us, Billie…it’s you,” read the post hashtagged #vegas4ever.
Another Vegas station, X107.5, posted on its website that “Sin City heard” him “loud and clear” and that “X107.5 is not having it.”
“In response to Armstrong’s inflammatory comments,” the website read, “the station is banning all Green Day music, effective immediately.”
Midday host Carlota informed listers on-air Wednesday (September 25th) that “the entire station was sanitized from Green Day songs.”
“Maybe he [Billie Joe] should take a look at the city and the people involved in that transaction than talking smack about the city of Las Vegas,” she said. “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.”
Armstrong has been an outspoken opponent of the A’s move. Back in August, the Green Day frontman vandalized the Athletics logo in the clubhouse at the Rogers Center, home of the Toronto Blue Jays. He even filmed himself committing the act, spray painting a “B” over the “A” in the logo. You can see that post below.