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Bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt of Green Day. Ronald Reyes/AP/Press Association Images
Tragic

Green Day pays tribute to Irish fan Kaelem

The band were made aware of the teen’s tragic death following a Twitter campaign.

INDIE ROCK BAND Green Day have paid tribute to one of their Irish fans who passed away unexpectedly last Sunday.

Friends and cousins of Dublin teen Kaelem Hainsworth created the #makekaelemsdaygreen hashtag on Twitter in the wake of the tragedy in the hope of gaining the band’s attention.

The effective campaign saw the hashtag trending across Ireland and the sad news reached the American musicians last night.

Bassist and vocalist Mike Dirnt posted a message on the band’s website to inform other fans of Kaelem’s death.

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Kaelem Hainsworth, a Green Day fan in Dublin passed away suddenly at the young age of 17, and we want to send our deepest condolences to Kaelem’s family and friends.

His funeral is this Thursday, which falls on Thanksgiving in the United States, and hearing sad news around the holidays always makes it more upsetting.

Kaelem you will forever be missed.

However, friends of the Oatlands Student have one more request of the band – for them to make a short tribute video for Kaelem to be played at his funeral. It is still unclear if they will be successful but many of the 40-plus responses to Dirnt’s message have asked again.

The initial message to Green Day from Kaelem’s cousin Mikey Power read:

Hi, my name is Mikey Power and just yesterday morning I was shocked when my cousin who was a friend to all passed away. Kaelem Hainsworth was the biggest Green Day fan I knew and has attended every concert in which Green Day performed in Dublin since he was eligible as he was only 17. He was really looking forward to your next visit to Dublin but now his funeral is on this Thursday and I know he would have loved for nothing more than a short dedication video that we could play at his funeral at 11:15 22nd of November. He cant even live now to see his 18th birthday on the 19 of December and if you can please do this for us we would really appreciate it.

Kaelem’s funeral mass will be held at the Guardian Angels Church in Newtownpark Avenue tomorrow morning. He is survived by his parents Alan and Denise, brother Jamie and sister Megan.

Green Day have cancelled all their upcoming live appearances for the rest of the year as lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong has checked into rehab.

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