Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Headed to Rehab
F-bombs and Bieber attacks drop during Green Day gig at iHeart Radio fest in Vegas; Green Day frontman enters rehab
Bandmates must’ve felt this was bound to happen.
At the 2nd annual iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong went into a hissy fit on stage that was possibly seen and heard all over the world. During Green Day’s performance of “Basket Case,” the 40-year old frontman stunned the audience when he exploded into a f-bomb rant that sprung from a unfortunate glitch on a background teleprompter alerting them of their set’s 1-minute expiration. The rant suggested that Armstrong was upset that more time was going to Usher and Rihanna.
Armstrong stopped singing and shouted, “You’ve gotta be f—-n’ kidding me! You’re f—-n’ kidding me.”
His rant continued: “What the (expletive) I’m not(expletive) Justin Bieber, you mother(expletive)…I got one minute—one minute left.”
Armstrong also picked up his axe and ripped it into shreds in protest over the 1-minute warning. The crowd can be heard screaming with joy over the rock ‘n roll tirade. Some can be seen with shock drawn across their faces as Armstrong’s ripped a verbal attack on Justin Bieber.
The band’s rep Brian Bumbery quickly released a press statement apologizing for their frontman’s actions during the Friday night concert stating that “Green Day would like everyone to know that their set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those they offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. The band regretfully must postpone some of their upcoming promotional appearances.”
Since the announcement, Armstrong is scheduled to enter rehab to “seek treatment for substance abuse,” according to his rep.
Green Day is scheduled to drop their newest album, ¡Uno!, this Tuesday. Two other albums, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!, are also slated to drop this fall. Prior obligations to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! are also on the books. Not sure if these bitter episode will hinder future record sales, or if the band will cancel these slated television performances. But band mates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool are saying so: “We regretfully must postpone some of our upcoming promotional appearances.”
Armstrong’s timeline of bad behavior is now being exaimned under the media’s microscope. He forced the cancellation of a show in Italy earlier this month. For that incident, the band stated that he was suffering from extreme dehydration. In 2003, Armstrong was arrested for driving under the influence. He has admitted to using drugs in the past, but claimed he was clean from drug abuse.
So do you think Billie Joe will get the help he needs?
Has this added unavoidable and unforgivable scorn to Green Day’s media blitz for their new album?
Are you optimistic for Armstrong’s recovery?
Band replacement?
Do you think Justin Bieber and Usher should respond to the incident?
Share your thoughts.
