Green Day’s Tré Cool responds to Charli XCX with ‘Actual Headliner’ sash

Green Day drummer Tré Cool has responded to Charli XCX by sporting an “Actual Headliner” sash at Coachella this weekend.

The ‘Brat’ star ruffled some feathers last week when she was seen wearing a sash at a Coachella afterparty that read “Miss Should Be Headliner”. She had played at 7pm on the Main Stage, before Green Day’s headline slot.

It prompted a backlash among some members of the punk band’s fanbase, but now the drummer has poked fun at the situation by wearing his response to Charli, as seen in a photo being shared on social media.

The pic appears to have been taken backstage at the festival, captured by Cool’s wife Sara Rose Wright. See it here:

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A post shared by Green Day Perú Oficial (@greenday_peru)

Green Day also responded to Charli’s actions during their set on Saturday (April 19), when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong asked to borrow a cap from a member of the audience, only for it to be revealed as a lime green cap that read “brat”.

Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, wearing a brat hat during their headlining set at Coachella tonight pic.twitter.com/6gciSIg9Zg

— xcx source (@xcxsource) April 20, 2025

Green Day’s weekend one headline performance saw them alter a ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ lyric to reference the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, with frontman Armstrong singing, “Runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine/Tales from another broken home,” replacing the original line, “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimised.”

“Green day making a political statement about shit that actually matters > pop girlies singing about coke,” wrote one unimpressed fan after the controversy first broke, with more weighing in about the size of their respective audiences. “Charli xcx letting hype get to her head,” added one X/Twitter user. “Green Day used their Coachella headliner slot to speak up for good. They are still bigger than her.”

The second weekend saw them tweak their lyrics to address political issues once again, with Armstrong taking aim at the Vice President with an updated ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ lyric, which was changed from “Am I (stupid) or am I just overjoyed?” to “Am I (stupid) or am I just J.D. Vance?” – a change he’d made to the words before, but not in front of the Coachella crowd until last night (April 19).

Elsewhere, the band also surprised fans with special guest Flavor Flav, who earlier on in the day appeared with children’s TV icons Yo Gabba Gabba!. The Public Enemy founder opened Green Day’s set after revealing himself from a bunny suit, a tradition in the band’s live gigs.

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