Billie Joe Armstrong, frontman for rock band Green Day, became the latest celebrity to compare Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to Hitler in an interview this week.
In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, the 44-year-old rocker weighed in on the 2016 presidential race, saying the only thing worse than the real estate billionaire’s candidacy is the millions of people across the country who support it.
“The worst problem I see about Trump is who his followers are,” Armstrong told the magazine. “I actually feel bad for them, because they’re poor, working-class people who can’t get a leg up. They’re pissed off and he’s preyed on their anger. He just said, ‘You have no options and I’m the only one, and I’m going to take care of it myself.’ I mean, that’s f*cking Hitler, man!”
“I don’t even know how else to explain it,” the singer and guitarist added. “I wish I were over-exaggerating. And sometimes maybe I do over-exaggerate with [George W.] Bush. But with Trump, I just can’t wait ’til he’s gone.”
Green Day returned earlier this month after a four-year hiatus with a new single, “Bang Bang,” which is sung from the perspective of a mass shooter. The band’s next album, Revolution Radio, is due out in October.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last week, Armstrong said he was inspired in part to write the album when he witnessed and later joined a New York City protest march to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the death of Ferguson, Missouri teenager Michael Brown.
“I got out of my car and marched with the people,” Armstrong told Rolling Stone. “It was a trip to see people rebel against the old order.”
He added that while “corporate news outlets” had turned the 2016 race into a “reality TV show,” he remains optimistic about the future of the country.
“I think Bernie Sanders broke new ground, not just as a protest candidate, but he broke into the inside of Washington,” Armstrong said. “I think that getting these young people to start voting and down-balloting, and running for office in their own towns … I think that the next 10 years is going to be a big game-changer.”
Armstrong is hardly the only celebrity to have compared the Republican candidate to the Nazi leader.
HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher, comedians Sarah Silverman and Louis C.K. and actress Eva Longoria have all previously made the comparison.
Green Day’s Revolution Radio is out October 7.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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