Singer Cee Lo Green Changes 'Imagine' Lyrics to 'All Religions True' During NYE Performance, Draws Fury

R&B singer Cee Lo Green prompted a rush of anger for his New Year's Eve performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" in which he swapped the lyrics "no religion too" to "all religions true."

Green performed the famous ballad shortly before the ball dropped in New York's Times Square. It was broadcast during NBC's New Year's Eve special and CNN carried a portion of it as well.

The full line Green changed was: "Nothing to kill or die for, And all religions true," prompting a flurry of angry reactions from atheists and Lennon fans alike on Twitter.

According to the Huffington Post, Green himself took to the site to defend his performance and responded to several profanity-laced messages. All of Green's tweets were deleted from his account Sunday morning.

"Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that's all," Green wrote in one now-deleted message.

That didn't stopped the barrage of outraged tweets, many of which accused Green of committing "blasphemy" by altering Lennon's song.

Other users took inspiration from the title Green's 2010 song "F--k You" to compose their tweets.

"F--k you, Cee Lo. It's 'And no religion too.' F--k you for spitting in the face of John Lennon & what he conveyed with his lyrics. F--k you!" wrote Twitter user TerranRich, who describes himself in his profile as an atheist and a liberal.

Watch Green's performance below. Lyric swap occurs at the 5:00 mark.

(h/t Huffington Post)