After a frantic rant during the Las Vegas iHeartRadio Music Festival, the forty year old, Billie Joe Armstrong of the band Green Day has been placed into a rehabilitation center to seek treatment for substance abuse. The whole ordeal started off when he noticed that the digital ticker had only a minute left before the band was supposed to wrap up their performance and Armstrong felt that they were cutting his time and he used those last seconds to vent out his frustration with multiple expletives.
Green Day took the stage after Usher made his performance and after his dramatic outburst, Armstrong smashed his guitar on stage and then continued to storm off in an angry rage. While the substance that has caused Billie Joe Armstrong to enter into rehab has not been released, alcohol is likely to be the number one contributing factor that caused the punk rock star to overreact. In an interview backstage with Armstrong and Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, he answers the question to how he preserves his voice with the answer “alcohol” which leads many to believe that Armstrong does in fact have a serious drinking problem.
With Green Day’s new album that is set to be released on September 25th, this outburst could either make or break the album sales since many of their promotional appearances to boost the sales of their album are being cancelled in order for Armstrong to receive the treatment he needs. While many are siding with Billie Joe Armstrong’s rant because they feel as if their time was cut short and they were being disrespected, others are criticizing every aspect of the band. If the band was indeed cut short on time, Armstrong’s outburst was a much needed reality check for the promoters but either way, if alcohol is a problem in the punk rock star’s life, being checked into rehab is the best thing for him.
