{"id":11169,"date":"2022-06-29T13:44:30","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T20:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/?p=11169"},"modified":"2024-01-02T12:35:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T19:35:02","slug":"an-american-idiot-renounces-his-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/an-american-idiot-renounces-his-citizenship.html","title":{"rendered":"An American Idiot Renounces His Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 24, 2022, Green Day\u2019s lead singer and guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong<\/a>, shouted out an expletive laden proclamation to a fawning crowd at the group\u2019s concert at London Stadium. The bombast was meant to protest the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Billy yowled and blubbered:<\/p>\n

“F*ck America. I’m f*cking renouncing my citizenship. I’m f*cking coming here. There’s just too much f*cking stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f*cking excuse for a country. Oh, I’m not kidding… you’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hadn\u2019t realized that Green Day\u2019s song American Idiot was an autobiographical confession from Billy, that is… until he squalled out his anti-Americanism to a cheering crowd in the United Kingdom. So long Billy, I won\u2019t miss ya, but since you\u2019ve forsaken America over the Supreme Court ruling\u2014you might want to know a few things about abortion law in Merry \u2018Ol England.<\/p>\n

\""The
“The Old Continentals.” Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth. Oil on canvas, 1922. Sorry, no “American Idiots” here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To have an abortion in the UK a woman\u2019s pregnancy must be under 24 weeks. The abortion must be approved by the signatures of two doctors who agree the woman\u2019s mental or physical health would be endangered without the abortion.<\/p>\n

Doctors can refuse to conduct abortions based on moral objections, which means searching for more doctors in order to get the required 2 signatures. After 24 weeks abortions are only allowed if the woman\u2019s life is in danger; the child would suffer mental or physical abnormalities if born; or the woman is at risk of grave mental or physical injury. Billy might think it\u2019s worth renouncing US citizenship in favor of UK abortion law, but he\u2019ll find it a costly process.<\/p>\n

Renouncing citizenship will require a personal appearance from Billy at a US embassy or consular office to declare his renunciation. There are forms to fill out and a $2,350 fee to pay. That fee is a piffle to a \u201cpunk rocker\u201d like Billy, whose net worth is $75 million smackeroos\u2014money plucked from the fingers of “f*cking stupid” mugs in “that miserable f*cking excuse for a country” I call home… also known as the good ol\u2019 US of A. But I digress. Billy\u2019s army of lawyers will give him some bad news, renouncing citizenship also comes with an \u201cExit tax.\u201d Yup, Billy will have to pay at least 20% on all of his properties.<\/p>\n

Billy will also have to read and sign a document showing he understands renouncing US citizenship forfeits all rights and privileges of a US citizen. Another form will advise him of the full legal and practical ramifications of losing his citizenship. The US government will consider his request, and hopefully, God willing, Uncle Sam will give his stamp of approval and strip Billy of his citizenship.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny that John Lydon, also known as Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols and Public Image fame, became a citizen of the US in 2013, saying: \u201cI became an American because this is a really new country; you have every opportunity not to make the mistakes of all those other old ones I come from.\u201d Lydon went on to say, \u201cI\u2019m now an American, and I\u2019m proud to be an American.\u201d Hey Billy, sod off you bloody wanker. God Save The Queen! Say hello to BoJo the clown for me.<\/p>\n

Since Billy very publicly renounced his citizenship in the UK\u2014and he\u2019s not a citizen of that or any other country, he\u2019s in danger of being \u201cstateless.\u201d That may sound fine to a fake anarchist like Billy “F*ck America\u201d Armstrong, but it also means he could have no passport and hence, no ability to enter any country, let alone the US. That might be a problem for fat-cat Billy when he tries to reenter the US in July 2022, that\u2019s when Green Day plays Loser-Palooza in Chicago. But then, Billy might just get a medal from *President Biden. Hurrah, Hurrah.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Ramones. Washington Square, 1976. “Don’t talk to commies, eat kosher salamis.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I say I always hated Green Day, you should listen. I was one of the first Los Angeles punk rockers of 1977. When I saw the Ramones<\/a> play The Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in \u201977, I was reborn. I dove headlong into punk and started hanging out at LA\u2019s first punk club, the Masque\u2014there wasn\u2019t an early LA punk band I didn\u2019t see; Screamers<\/a>, Black Randy & the MetroSquad<\/a>, all of \u2018em. I was raised on The Germs<\/a>, don\u2019t give me that Green Day pablum! I saw all the San Francisco bands; Dead Kennedys, Mutants, Avengers, etc. In 1979 I saw The Clash play the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium with Bo Diddley and the Dils; that same year I worked at Slash Magazine, the first punk rock publication in California. I eventually created two cover illustrations for Slash. I played a small role in producing The Decline of Western Civilization<\/em>, the 1980 documentary film on LA\u2019s early punk scene directed by Penelope Spheeris.<\/p>\n

Writing about Green Day and Billy helps to define what punk is or isn\u2019t. Seeing the band at the 2016 American Music Awards being idolized and fussed over by Hollywood elites made me nauseous. Punk is supposed to upset established norms, but Green Day supports \u2018em. Besides, they\u2019re just a conventional if somewhat \u201cedgy\u201d Pop band.<\/p>\n

Battered and bruised but all the wiser, I withdrew from the punk front lines in 1987, the year Green Day was formed. Eyeing Green Day from the shadows, I viewed them as poseurs, pin-up boy retreads that were cashing in on \u201crebellion.\u201d Nothing has changed, except the levels of falseness.<\/p>\n

Green Day took their name from Soylent Green<\/a><\/em>, a brilliant 1973 dystopian science fiction film starring Charlton Heston. In the film, Soylent Red, Yellow, or Green were the synth foods supplied to the hungry masses by a totalitarian state. The popular but little supplied Soylent Green supplement was offered only on Green Day.<\/p>\n

Whatever Billy Joe Armstrong offers you… don\u2019t consume it.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

JAN. 2, 2024 UPDATE:<\/p>\n

On New Year’s Eve 2023, a live performance by Green Day<\/a> was broadcast on ABC’s New Year\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Eve<\/em> celebration. Low and behold, there was American Idiot Billie Joe Armstrong singing before an American audience in a concert telecast by an American media corporation. This after his June 24, 2022 promise to renounce his US citizenship and move to Great Britain. I wonder how many Yankee Dollars Billy made by appearing on ABC. I’m still waiting for this liar and hypocrite to forsake his citizenship and move to Merrie Olde England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 24, 2022, Green Day\u2019s lead singer and guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong, shouted out an expletive laden proclamation to a fawning crowd at the group\u2019s concert at London Stadium. The bombast was meant to protest the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Billy yowled and blubbered: “F*ck America. I’m f*cking renouncing my citizenship. I’m f*cking coming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-of-punk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}