Green Day had a blatant message to deliver to Texas Senator Ted Cruz during a recent show, which they delivered in three words with a “Fuck Ted Cruz” backdrop on stage.
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Playing a show in Berlin on their Hella Mega Tour, also featuring Fall Out Boy and Weezer, Green Day performed in front of a red-lit screen reading “Fuck Ted Cruz” in white lettering, according to tweets that fans have been posting following the event.
The message is aimed at Republican Texas Senator Cruz after he refused to blame the May 24 mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas—which resulted in the death of 19 students and two teachers—on the lack of stricter gun control laws. Days after the shooting, the senator also kept his speaking engagement at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in Houston, where he defended gun rights.
“Gun bans do not work,” said Cruz at the NRA conference. “Look at Chicago. If they worked, Chicago wouldn’t be the murder hellhole that it has been for far too long,” he said, even though Chicago hasn’t had a ban on handguns for more than a decade.”
Green Day—Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool—have always been outspoken about their political views, which they’ve expressed in their albums like American Idiot in 2005 and their 2009 release 21st Century Breakdown, which were directed at the Bush administration at the time. In 2019, Armstrong updated the lyrics of the song “American Idiot” and directed it toward then-president Donald Trump switching the verse I’m not a part of the redneck agenda to I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.
The band’s tour continues through the fall and will conclude in Austin, Texas on Oct. 21.
Photo: Pamela Littky / Warner Records
