Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day goes from rant to rehab

First came Billie Joe Armstrong’s rant, and now comes rehab.

The Green Day singer lost it at the end of the band’s iHeartRadio Festival set Friday in Las Vegas, launching into a profanity-filled tirade when he thought their set was being cut short. (It wasn’t.)

After, ahem, clarifying with the audience that he wasn’t Justin Bieber -- we’re guessing there wasn’t much doubt in the first place, especially as the Biebs wasn’t on the bill -- Armstrong smashed his guitar and hurled the remnants out into the audience.

The band posted an announcement on its Facebook page Sunday: “Billie Joe is seeking treatment for substance abuse. We would like everyone to know that our set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those we offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas.”

The band also said it would be postponing some upcoming promotional appearances.

Armstrong was rushed to the hospital in Italy in early September for an undisclosed illness, forcing the band to cancel a show in Bologna.

Judging by the cheers from the crowd heard in the F-bomb-laden video (you have been warned) of the outburst, the bulk of the audience wasn’t among the offended. Still, there was ironic juxtaposition between the rant and the rather lovely pre-show presentation above, which the band made on iHeartRadio’s behalf.

“I think the most special part for me is going to be, is we’re going to blow them off the stage,” Armstrong said ahead of time. “That’s going to be the funnest part. Because maybe they’re not going to ‘heart’ radio as much as they did before, until Green Day plays it.”

Little did he know.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs and on Facebook facebook.com/ministryofgossip.

PHOTOS AND MORE:

PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times