As Green Day took heat on social media, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong insisted Saturday the band had no idea someone died before their set at a festival in Spain.
“We are not heartless people,” he said in a message shared on Instagram. “If we had known prior to our performance we most likely would not have played at all.”
Acrobat Pedro Aunión Monroy died Friday after falling 100 feet to the ground at the Mad Cool Festival. He was 42.
On Twitter, Green Day was slammed for taking the stage. "Ashamed of you," tweeted Javier Erquiaga. "An artist died just 20 meters from you and you still play. Worst band on the planet."
The band tweeted: "We just got off stage at Mad Cool Festival to disturbing news. A very brave artist named Pedro lost his life tonight in a tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends."
In his Instagram statement, Armstrong wrote: “Many of you are wondering why we continued to play our show after the accident. Green Day did not hear about the accident until after our show was over. We didn't even know there was an acrobat performance at all.”
Armstrong said the band was about half-a-mile away from the main stage, where the accident occurred, warming up for their show. “There are so many things happening at the same time it's impossible to keep up with every performer/artist,” he explained.
The rocker said it was only after playing their two-and-a-half-hour set that Green Day was informed of what had happened earlier.
“All of us were in disbelief,” said Armstrong. “I don't know why the authorities chose not to tell us about the accident before our concert.”
Armstrong shared condolences on behalf of his bandmates. “We are so sad for Pedro and his family and we pray for them in this time of grief. I can't imagine how much suffering the friends and family are going through.
“What happened to Pedro is unthinkable. Once again we are heartbroken for his friends and family. We are also shocked and heartbroken for anyone that had to witness this tragedy.”
Festival organizers defended the decision to keep Green Day in the dark and cited “security reasons” for continuing with the event.
“Mad Cool Festival regrets the terrible accident that the aerial dancer suffered during the second day of the festival,” they said in a statement.
“We send our most sincere condolences to all his family.”