This is what punk is, after all: calling things "shitholes." Green Day have gotten themselves banned from multiple radio stations based in Las Vegas, NV, after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong had some choice words to offer about the city, which he thinks is the "worst shithole in America."
Apparently this all has to do with baseball, which explains how heated Armstrong got during the band's September 20 show in San Francisco, CA. You see, the singer-songwriter is from Oakland, CA — the former home of the Oakland Athletics MLB team, which is now moving to Las Vegas. He discussed the upcoming move onstage, remarking, "We don't take shit from people like fucking John Fisher," referencing the team's owner [via KRON4].
"I hate Las Vegas. It's the worst shithole in America," he added.
Local radio stations KOMP 92.3 and X107.5 caught wind of Armstrong's comments and were offended, as even a place that readily calls itself Sin City has the right to be. The latter rock channel recently announced on Instagram that they had "pulled any and all Green Day from our playlist," adding, "It's not us, Billie…it's you. #vegas4ever."
Meanwhile, X107.5 echoed their sentiments in a statement posted to its website, claiming "the entire station was sanitized from Green Day songs."
It's clear that Armstrong has been against the A's relocation to Vegas — which was unanimously approved by MLB ownership last year, and has since drawn plenty of backlash — from the start: when the band's summer tour behind Saviors came to Toronto's Rogers Centre at the beginning of August, he posted a video of himself defacing the A's logo at the with green spray paint so that it read, "Oakland BS." (At least, I think that was the idea?)