Billie Joe Armstrong Compares Psy To Herpes, Is Kind Of A Jerk

Did ya'll hear about Billy Joe Armstrong comparing PSY to herpes? I mean, of course you did. Who didn't, right? And PSY actually THANKED him. No, really.

I'm sitting here like, “Way to use your powers of persuasion and Universe-given talent for the good of mankind. Wtf, Billy Joe?”

As I was ranting about this to M, he interjected and said, “Who says Billy Joe has to use his fame for good? And besides, isn't PSY that guy who sings about killing Americans?”

To address M's second question (does PSY deserve it), because I like doing things backwards, I had to first do some research. Not to find out who PSY is; who can forget “Gangnam Style”? But M was the person who told me that PSY sings about killing Americans, and while I trust M not to exaggerate something he read, I do know that who or what PSY did means little to him because M doesn't give a rat's ass about PSY or “Gangnam Style”, so he wouldn't go looking for a second (or third, or tenth) source.

And sure enough, turns out that, while PSY has protested America in the past, it was in response to something we did (US soldiers ran over South Korean children and captured and tortured Iraqi people), and he has since apologized.

But regardless, even if you're the type that thinks those kinds of apologies are more to save a rep than actually express regret for one's actions, the fact remains that Billy Joe should not be using his fame to perpetuate the stereotype that STDs are worse than normal illnesses and makes an STI+ person somehow less than.

Okay, okay. Billy Joe is not required to use his fame for anything. He can do whatever he wants with his fame. But hear me out.

I kinda feel like if I help pay a guy's paycheck (or, you know, buy him a two million dollar house), he should care what I think about him. I mean, I have to care what my boss thinks of me, or he'll stop signing my paychecks. I have to care what my audience thinks of me, or they'll stop reading. Does Billy Joe really think his music will carry him if his crowd starts to think everything he says in his lyrics is utter bullshit?

The answer here, my fellow metal heads and punk rockers, is yes. He does. Because some of us will. We're weird that way. Hate the sin, not the sinner, I guess. Maybe we can change him, man! Or the hypothetical him, as the case may be.

When he's slinging insults like “herpes of music”, rather than coming up with more relevant (and intelligent) insults like “irredeemably backward moron and a villainous halitosis-infested sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy – no offense to any sideshow freaks”, you start to wonder who really writes Green Day's tunes. I mean, dude's got a show on Broadway. Just saying.

But besides that, if Billy Joe had to use an ailment to express his sentiment, why'd he jump to herpes? Why not a cold, or Lyme disease, or an allergic reaction?

I'll tell you why not. Because herpes, being sexually transmitted, is SO MUCH WORSE than any other illness you can get because you get it SEXUALLY and that makes you a dirty whore in the bad way. Right?

Wrong.

Have you ever had chickenpox? Mono? A cold sore? You've got herpes. And? You can transmit your herpes by touch, kissing or sex during an outbreak. Just like genital herpes. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. STIs are JUST LIKE normal illnesses. In many cases, they're the very same disease in a form that affects a different part of the body. To suggest they are anything more or less, or that the people who have them are somehow gross or morally bankrupt is utter bullshit.

So, way to perpetuate a stereotype, Billy Joe. My hero. What'll you do for your next trick?