Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong headed to rehab

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at the iHeart Radio Music Festival on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 at the MGM Grand Arena, in Las Vegas.

/ AP

(CBS/AP) Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong is headed to treatment for substance abuse.

Sunday's announcement by the band's rep comes after the 40-year-old frontman had a meltdown onstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Friday. As Green Day was wrapping up its performance during the all-star, two-day concert, Armstrong profanely complained that the band's time was being cut short.

Pictures: Stars in rehab

"One minute left, one minute (expletive) left. You're gonna give me (expletive) one minute?...I'm not (expletive) Justin Bieber, you (expletives)!" he yelled (although Bieber was not part of the night's festivities).

Armstrong smashed his guitar before leaving the stage.

In a statement posted on its website, Green Day apologized "to those they offended at the iHeartRadio Festival" and said its set was not cut short by Clear Channel, the host of the two-day festival.

31 Photos

Stars in rehab

The Grammy winning band also is canceling some of its promotional appearances. Over the past year, Green Day has been very prolific in the studio. It is due to release the album "Uno" on Tuesday, the follow-up to "21st Century Breakdown," released three years ago. "Uno" is the first in a trilogy of albums; the second is to be out in November, and the last in January. The band is due to kick off a nationwide tour Nov. 26 in Seattle.

Armstrong was hospitalized in early September in Bologna, Italy, for an undisclosed ailment, but recovered well enough to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 6. Since then, the band has made a series of performances, including a "Good Morning America" performance and a New York City concert for the launch of Nokia Music on Sept. 15. No interviews of the band were allowed that evening, but the band chatted with fans and Nokia and AT&T executives before performing for about two hours.

It's unclear what Armstrong is receiving treatment for; in 2003, he was arrested for DUI, and has acknowledged in the past taking various drugs but has said he now eschews them.

Most recently, he was a mentor on the NBC talent competition "The Voice."

[SofiaMog]

Talk about a great publicist. When sh-t hits the fan just throw the star in rehab to make everything better. Green Days lead singer Billie Armstrong checked into rehab after the iHeart Music Festival where he caught the wrong strain of Beiber fever and went off, humiliating his band mates and his self. Is this his band mates turning their back on him and making him get clean in hopes to reconcile what happened and gain back support? Or is this all a publicity stunt for their new album dropping soon? Well Admitting treatment for substance abuse, writing off clear channel, and postponing promotional appearances doesn't sound like the smartest publicity stunt...

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/09/green-day-lead-singer-billie-joe-armstrong-checks-into-rehab-after-justin-bieber-rant/

[jgnv]

Will this same worn out scenario ever end? It's so hard to imagine how so many celebrities and rock stars who have so much never feel they have enough. I'm sure his rep will be issuing a public statement in the next couple of days stating that he is being treated for "exhaustion".

[MrLagg]

who's the idiot now? not proud to be a redneck billie? how about a junkie? proud of that?

somewhat like Rage Against Machine, in that they have good music and infantile "bang a spoon on the highchair' lyrics

get well soon

[Jaylah54200]

Oh golly, what a surprise. Not.

[jfkesq2012]

Yawn...