Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has responded to the criticism he received last year after working with controversial singer Morrissey.
Armstrong teamed up with the former Smiths vocalist in 2019 on a cover of The Fifth Dimension‘s “Wedding Bell Blues,” which appeared on Morrissey’s covers album, California Son.
But Armstrong was chastised by fans for collaborating with Morrissey, who denied accusations of racism after voicing his support for the controversial far-right group For Britain.
Although Armstrong had initially described the collaboration as “an honor,” he now says he had no knowledge of Morrissey’s views, explaining, “I wasn’t aware until the song came out. We do the song, and he was very lovely, and then the song comes out and a lot of Brits were like: what the hell are you doing? I really did not have a clue.”
Drummer Tre Cool added, “Hey, we’ve all got our Ted Nugents, right?” — a reference to the American guitarist and avid Donald Trump supporter who has made racist remarks about Barack Obama and misogynist comments about Hillary Clinton.
Green Day returned last week with its 13th studio album, Father Of All Motherf**kers. The band will tour this summer with Fall Out Boy and Weezer.