Iconic punk rock band Green Day was bashed online on Sunday over claims that their Super Bowl 60 performance was “not political enough.” The popular music hitmakers were hit with backlash the same week they made headlines for taunting the Donald Trump administration, its federal immigration crackdown and Department of Justice’s Jan 30 release of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein Files.

The legendary music act opened this year’s star-studded championship game at Levi Stadium in California with a rendition of their nostalgic hit “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” before stepping towards one of the most political songs in the discography, “Holiday.”

They eventually launched into the title track “American Idiot.” It has particularly gained prominence over the years due to the group’s recurrent changes to the second verse’s opening lyrics to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda,” an extension of Green Day’s anti-Donald Trump stance.

Down the line, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” from the “American Idiot” album was also included in their Super Bowl LX setlist.

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Why Green Day was bashed for Super Bowl 60 opening

Despite the high-performance medley of their much-loved songs and NFL’s approval on social media, not all fans were on board the Green Day train this weekend. In a stark departure from their usual lyric changes, the band mostly stuck to their original words, while TV broadcasts chose to censor some curse words.

Their “American Idiot” performance particularly became the central subject matter fuelling the debate on social media, as Green Day opted to skip the second verse of the track, which is famously known for its politically-heavy language.

Contrary to their usual streak of openly speaking out against the government and mixing political messages with their songs during live concerts, their Super Bowl 2026 conspicuously steered clear of expressing any such statements. As they chose to follow their old songs’ original lyrics, many were shocked to see how starkly different their Sunday stance was from when they took the stage at a pre-Super Bowl concert just days earlier.

A user fumed on X: “Green Day skipping the entire middle of American Idiot with the “anti maga” lyrics when they had the chance to sing it in front of millions during the current political state of our country is such a b**ch move sorry.”

Another commented: “Green Day had THE opportunity to be political and they rested on American Idiot to make a statement? that song’s been out since the late 2000s! where was the same energy from the night BEFORE where they called out everyone involved in the epstein files?? so disappointed.”

A third chimed in: “Okay well I’m disappointed in Green Day because that wasn’t political enough for what I needed.”

Yet another person said: “Green Day skipping a whole verse of ‘American Idiot’ and about 80% of the words to ‘Holiday’ — which is probably their most political song ever — is absolutely disappointing. Shameful. I’m angry. Green Day literally sold out to the media.”

Did Green Day ‘sell out’?

Some fans believed that Green Day opted to keep political messages out of their Super Bowl performance for a “big paycheck.” However, the truth is that they earned nothing for performing at the annual championship.

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“While the NFL covers the production costs for the Super Bowl, traditional artists have not been paid to perform. The reason is the incredible visibility they will receive from the massive viewership,” reports Forbes. “Last year, Kendrick Lamar saw official on-demand U.S. streams soar from 189.6 million the week prior to 361.6 million the week the Super Bowl aired — a 91% increase on top of seeing several songs rebound on the Billboard Hot 100.”

What Green Day said at a pre-Super Bowl concert

Despite seemingly avoiding politics during the Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday, the Trump critics took a scathing swipe at an invite-only Super Bowl week party organised by Spotify and FanDuel on Friday.

Channelling their usual punk-rock and rebellious spirit, the group took aim at the Trump administration’s immigration operations while also alluding to the recent release of millions of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“This goes out to all the ICE agents out there, wherever you are: quit your sh**ty-a** job. Quit that sh**ty job you have,” said frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. “Because when this is over—and it will be over at some point in time—Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Donald Trump, they’re going to drop you like a bad f*cking habit. Come on this side of the line.”

Moreover, while performing “Holiday,” Armstrong sang “the representative from Epstein Island has the floor.” And once again, during the “American Idiot” piece, he sang the now-famous changed lyrics “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.”

Was Green Day censored on Super Bowl day?

Even though the group didn’t take much risk during the Super Bowl LX opening, NBC censored the band’s curse words included in the songs, including the line “the subliminal mindf**k America.”