“I’m just trying to get to my f*cking seat”
Sometimes it just doesn’t matter that you’ve won five Grammy Awards, sold more than 75 million records, have a hit Tony-winning Broadway musical (for 2010’s American Idiot) based on your music and are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And sometimes it’s lucky to have a member of the media nearby when your manner of dress prompts an incident.
As Green Day‘s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, boarded a Southwest airplane from San Francisco, CA to Burbank on September 1, 2011, a flight attendant told him to pull up his pants. Armstrong’s response (confirmed by Cindy Qiu, an associate producer for the news department of KGO TV in San Francisco): “Don’t you have better things to do than worry about that?” The guy’s got a valid point, right?
The flight attendant replied, “Pull your pants up or you’re coming off the plane.” (Really?) Armstrong informed her, “I’m just trying to get to my f*cking seat.” Guess who was kicked off the flight?
Billie Joe Armstrong took to Twitter to express his anger for the airplane decision. “Just got kicked off a Southwest flight because my pants sagged too low!” he tweeted. “What the fuck? No joke!” It caught the airline’s attention and they apologized and booked Armstrong onto a later flight. But the incident certainly was at odds with their “You are now free to move about the country” brand promise. It’s not known how Southwest addressed the matter with its employee.
Is it any wonder why some rock stars have their own private planes? Alas, having his own jet would have a negative effect on Armstrong’s punk rock credibility even if he can easily afford one.
After the incident, Armstrong likely realized that the month had just begun, perhaps thinking, “Wake me up, when September ends.”
Related: 65,000 Green Day fans can’t be wrong
Armstrong grabbed headlines in late June 2022 when he said to a London concert audience, “F**k America. I’m f***king renouncing my citizenship. I’m f**king coming here.” He added, “[there’s] too much f**king stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f**king excuse for a country.”
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Good riddance and don’t come back
The first I heard about his America bashing.
He’s just another Adele and
Celine. He/they wouldn’t be where they are without the American fans, but they still will still take our money. It’s a shame, I like Green Day, but they won’t get a drop of my money ever again.
Next track…Green Day…Skip!
Canada’s population would double if everyone in the US who promises to leave, actually went.
Canadian citizens (Michael J Fox for example) avail themselves of our “horrible” health care.
One other thing people might consider before heading to The Great White North (and most other countries) . . . there ain’t no “Freedom of Speech”. Get on the wrong side of someone, an organization, or the government, and The State will come after you.
How is it that this poor excuse for a musician is in the Rock Hall and Warren Zevon is not?