One of my favorite punk bands just banned Trump supporters ... in the name of Jesus?!



Growing up, my music collection was always a combination of two main genres: Christian worship and pop punk rock. Putting on shuffle, I would go from songs by Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, Shane and Shane, to songs from bands like Mayday Parade, Blink-182, and Simple Plan.

One day, I discovered that one of the bands I liked had a foot in both worlds. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is a secular punk band, but their lead singer, Ronnie Winter, is a Christian. I developed a soft spot for them.

The song's chorus warns that fear leads to anger, which leads to hate — and implores the listener not to 'buy in' to this cycle. Except when it comes to Trump voters, apparently.

In their more than 20-year career, RJSA have tended to stay away from politics. Recently, however, that changed — and Winter came out with a stance more polarizing than anything I've seen from any punk band — even avowedly "leftist" ones.

In short: If you voted for Donald Trump, you are not welcome at his shows.

Lifetime ban

Winter communicated the new policy in a lengthy Instagram post. After a preamble about how "woke people" were right about "everything they said was going to happen," Winter laid down the law:

Hi, I’m Ronnie Winter. I sing for the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and I actually follow what Jesus says. If you’re a Christian and you’re watching this and you voted for Donald Trump, shame on you. You are not allowed to come to my shows. I don’t want you there. Don’t come to my shows. If you voted for Donald Trump, do not come to my shows — ever, not just these four years.

Don’t come to my shows because you’re going to hear a lot of woke propaganda, and you’re going to hear the actual words of Jesus. You’re going to see a lot of acceptance from all areas of life and races, and you’re just going to see a lot of harmony. That’s not what you’re about. Don’t come. Refunds are available. Forever, don’t come. Goodbye.

In retrospect, I should've seen it coming. As was the case with many performing artists, Donald Trump seemed to hit a nerve. I first remember them going political on a song from their 2020 release "The Emergency EP."

“Don’t Buy Into It” condemns a number of conservative "sins," including transphobia, immigration restriction, and telling people what they can do with what "God has given them."

"Everyone hates everyone," goes another verse. "That's not true, because we love you, and we're not buying into it." The song's chorus warns that fear leads to anger, which leads to hate — and implores the listener not to "buy in" to this cycle.

Except when it comes to Trump voters, apparently.

Mosh pit politics

Now, punk bands identifying with the left is nothing new, of course. For example, pop-punk group Green Day has always worn their politics on their sleeves, from their anti-G.W. Bush anthem "American Idiot" to lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong leading fans in a chant calling Trump a "fat bastard" at a recent concert.

Then there's Rage Against the Machine, the quintessential "antiestablishment" punk band, with nearly every one of their songs criticizing the domestic and foreign policies of current and previous presidential administrations.

The difference is these bands implicitly welcome all fans to come and listen, as far as I know. Fans know what they’re getting into when they attend one of these shows. Those who lean conservative can either not attend or decide not to let the politics bother them. That’s how it's supposed to be.

But Ronnie Winter has decided to go a different route. And that’s his route to choose.

That’s right, I’m not going to attack Winter for deciding he doesn’t want to associate himself with conservatives or Trump supporters. Winter is fully within his right as an artist to say, “Hey, you, I don’t want you here.” And fans of the band who may also be conservative can either decide to never support the band again or live with it.

Gospel fine print?

What I find issue with is Winter’s apparent belief that this is somehow following the teachings of Jesus Christ. That "the actual words of Jesus" he mentions are somehow not meant for the ears of those who support Trump.

I have to wonder, where in the Bible does Jesus offer an exemption from his command to love one another in the case of political disagreements? Did we forget to read the fine print for 1 John 3:16 ("offer not valid for certain voters")?

Time and time again, the Bible showed Jesus loving the marginalized. And whether Ronnie Winter is willing to admit it or not, conservatives these days can find themselves pretty marginalized — whether they're banned from social media platforms, dropped by a bank or payment processor, or just harassed for wearing a MAGA hat in public.

Jesus loved the marginalized and didn’t isolate or exclude those society deemed controversial. Winter is all for this ... except when it comes to conservatives.

A new command

Romans 5:8 puts it clearly, “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And in the exact words of Jesus, John 13:34-35 says, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

RELATED: Holy shot: Did Trump's assassination attempt survival prove miracles are real?

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

I’m currently going through my own struggles with Christianity and my faith, but I still find within me the urge to defend it. And while I agree with Winter that using Christianity to cause hate and division is wrong, I disagree with how he chooses to respond.

You can’t fight fire with fire. I cannot sit idly by and watch a person claiming to follow Christ while simultaneously putting this much effort into division and hate. It goes without saying that if any other band said to any other faction of society that they are not welcome at their shows, it would be met with criticism, if not outrage.

No stranger to the struggle

So my question for Ronnie Winter is: Do you actually believe this is the right course to take? Do you really believe that Trump voters aren't worthy of attending your shows — and presumably benefiting from the example of Christian faith you claim they embody?

I’m not here to question if Winters' faith is genuine or not. That's God’s job. I’m also not here to delve into Winter’s deeper theological views. There are people way more qualified to do that than I. I’m just a struggling Christian who still understands the core of Christianity and that this type of divisiveness should never be a part of the equation.

I’m also not going to judge. I’m no stranger to the struggle to follow the perfect example of Jesus Christ — especially over the last six years. For we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But I can offer this charitable advice, both to Winter and anyone who takes satisfaction from the lines he's drawn: Don’t buy into it.

Green Day literally runs offstage after drone spotted inside stadium; drone operator caught; feds on the case



Cellphone video showed pop-punk band Green Day literally running offstage Wednesday in Detroit after a drone was spotted inside Comerica Park.

"There was an individual that flew a drone into Comerica Park, so Green Day was taken off stage," Detroit police Cpl. Dan Donakowski said, according to the Detroit News. "Shortly after that, they went back on stage to perform. DPD located this individual outside of Comerica Park. He is being detained pending further investigation."

'How you guys doing? Everybody OK?' lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong asked crowd of around 35,000 fans after the drone incident.

The paper said the band members were rushed from the stage at 8:50 p.m. — about 20 minutes into the concert and during the second chorus of the hit single "Longview." The News said after a few minutes, a message showed up on the concert video screens saying, "Show Pause. Please standby for details."

The delay lasted about 10 minutes, then Green Day returned to the stage, the paper said.

"How you guys doing? Everybody OK?" lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong asked crowd of around 35,000 fans after the drone incident, the News said, adding that the band kicked into "Longview" at the spot when the drone interrupted them. The paper said that after the next song, "Welcome to Paradise," Armstrong told the crowd, "There ain't no motherf***er that's gonna stop us, I'll tell you that."

The News said in a follow-up story that federal authorities are investigating the suspect.

Detroit Police Sgt. Daren Zhou said the drone pilot was questioned but not arrested, the paper reported. "We've forwarded the case to the [U.S. Federal Aviation Administration]," Zhou said, according to the News.

The paper said the FAA bans flying drones in and around a radius of three nautical miles from stadiums or venues starting one hour before and ending one hour after the scheduled time of major event.

FAA spokesperson Eva Ngai told the News that although the agency lacks the authority to pursue criminal charges, it can fine "drone operators who endanger other aircraft or people on the ground" to fines "that exceed $30,000. In addition, the FAA can suspend or revoke drone operators’ pilot certificates."

The paper, citing the FAA's website, added that drone operators who conduct unsafe or unauthorized operations face fines up to $75,000 per violation.

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Anti-Trump Green Day calls for Orange Man's head



They don’t call them Ruthless for nothing.

The fellas at the “Ruthless Variety Progrum” (note the “u” is on purpose) skewer politics from a sane, right-of-center view. And they’ve leveraged classic “Veep” TV show clips to mock Vice President Kamala Harris over the last three-plus years.

They called it “Veep or Veep?”

They joked recently (if "recently" means anything beyond ten minutes ago in this hyperactive news cycle) that they ran out of old “Veep” clips to compare with Harris’ growing body of word salad quips. Yet the mind behind the HBO series is so Trump-deranged that he can’t see any resemblance between Selina Meyer and our current quasi-not-really president:

Well, for a start, Selina Meyer is not Kamala Harris. When we were making Veep, we didn’t have anyone in specific in mind. It was more we wanted people. … It really is not based on anyone. It’s just our vice president. Plus, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is an amazing comedy talent, and why wouldn’t you have her as the center of your show? So it’s about that. It’s nice that Veep has been watched again, but I wouldn’t want people to think that Kamala Harris is like Selina Meyer.

OK, Jan …

Green Day ghouls

This rocker knows a thing or two about American idiots.

Like many a left-leaning celeb, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong missed the “tone down the rhetoric” memo following the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. So perhaps it’s less than shocking to learn that the 52-year-old multimillionaire rebel did something ghoulish on stage to protest Trump. He held a Trump mask aloft as if it were the former president’s actual head.

In speaking truth to power, Armstrong bravely ignored soaring inflation rates, the frightening crime levels in Democrat-controlled cities, and the Oct. 7 attacks that killed more than a 1,000 Israelis in order to go after the real enemy: a guy who hasn't been in charge of the country since early 2021.

The band even shared the clip of Armstrong's low-effort Kathy Griffin-style decapitation on its Instagram page, much to the delight of his fellow White Men for Kamala.

Who says punk is dead?

Up the Academy

Wanted: Oscars host – modest pay, global scrutiny, DNC talking points included.

Jimmy Kimmel toned down the hard-left politics earlier this year during his third Oscar hosting gig. Now he’s ready to pass the torch to another comic. Good luck.

So far, stand-up star John Mulaney has turned down the offer, which could have instantly given him the biggest spotlight of his career. Hmm.

The gig’s risks are obvious. Every joke will be put through the social X-ray machine to determine possible offense. The host’s prior career will similarly get the FBI background treatment to ensure no problematic joke has ever left his or her lips.

Just ask Kevin Hart.

Just know the one person who could rock the Oscars like no other will never be offered the gig. Ricky Gervais skewered Hollywood Inc. so thoroughly in his 2020 Golden Globes appearance that he’d instantly double the night’s ratings.

Heck, the ratings might double just by making every beautiful person in attendance memorize Gervais' 2020 advice for nominees:

So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f**k off.

Imagine getting through the Academy Awards broadcast in less time than Biden's withdrawal speech ...

Iron Man's new platinum payday

Hollywood talks a good game with its sharing-the-wealth memes and working-class platitudes. When push comes to shove, however, the message is clear: “Show me the money!”

It’s why Robert Downey Jr. just reupped for another tour of duty in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The “Iron Man” star said goodbye to the beloved character in “Avengers: Endgame” five years ago. Now he’s back to play the villainous Dr. Doom in two MCU features.

And we have his first, exclusive line of dialogue: “Ka-ching!”

Oh, wait, that’s the sound his agent made after inking the deal. Reports say Downey Jr. will walk away with “significantly more” than $80 million for his work in the two-part film saga …

Late-night host to make jokes

Just in: Seth Meyers has snagged a deal for his first HBO comedy special. Career reinvention is never easy; best of luck to Meyers as he tries his hand at being funny.