When Circle Jerks put out their 1983 song "Coup D’Etat," Donald Trump had not yet sicced his supporters on the US capitol building. Attitudes can change after you've watched an incumbent president attempt to overturn election results on live TV! And so when the LA hardcore punks performed the song at Coachella Sunday evening, frontman Keith Morris disclosed afterwards: “That song, that last line, ends with ‘kill all.’ That’s a pretty fucking ugly statement... In ugly times. Do not think that we encourage that.” His idea instead: "What we do encourage — what would be totally fucking happening -- would be an army of Luigis.”
An "army of Luigis," of course, refers to Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the December 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Trump's administration has since asked prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for Mangione despite a good percentage of young adults, Ethel Cain included, voicing support for him. And speaking of Trump, Morris alluded to him during the Jerks' set, too, saying that he'd lost contact with his sister after she voted "that guy" and expressed some "white Christian nationalist" views.
Circle Jerks weren't the only artist to make political statements during their Coachella set. On Saturday, Nicolas Jaar gave a speech during his band Darkside's set about Mahmoud Khalil, the activist whose student visa was unjustly revoked after participating in the Columbia University pro-Palestine protests. Bernie Sanders introduced Clairo's set, praising and echoing her support of human rights issues. The Irish rap trio Kneecap also made some political messages during their Coachella set Saturday, voicing support for Palestine and leading the crowd in an anti-Margaret Thatcher chant. Those remarks were apparently censored from Coachella's official livestream; Green Day, however, were able to work in a sneaky lyric change to "Jesus Of Suburbia": “Running away from pain like the kids from Palestine.”
