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Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong has responded to the criticism he previously faced after working with Morrissey.
The Green Day frontman teamed up with the Smiths icon in 2019 on a cover of The Fifth Dimension’s ‘Wedding Bell Blues’, which appeared on Morrissey’s covers album, ‘California Son‘.
At the time, Armstrong faced criticism from fans for teaming up with the singer– who has previously denied accusations of racism after voicing his support for the controversial far-right group For Britain.
Read more: The Big Read – Green Day: “We live our lives as if we have nothing”
While Armstrong previously described the collaboration as “an honour”, he has now denied having any knowledge of Morrissey’s controversial views.
“I wasn’t aware until the song came out,” Armstrong told The Guardian.
“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 …”
He added: “Hey, we’ve all got our Ted Nugents, right?” – a reference to the US rocker and gun enthusiast who was previously investigated by the Secret Service for comments about Barack Obama.
Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste, Broken Social Scene’s Ariel Engle, and The Regrettes’ Lydia Knight also appeared on the record, but Engle was the only to speak out at the time of its release.
She said she had been ignorant of Morrissey’s opinions and only learned of his political leanings when a friend challenged her about working with him via email.
“It’s a very weak argument to claim ignorance but it is my argument,” she told the Guardian. “It’s not an excuse but it happens to be the truth.”
Last week, Green Day returned with their thirteenth studio album ‘Father of All Motherfuckers‘. Morrissey will release his thirteenth solo album, ‘I Am Not A Dog On A Chain‘, in March.
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