On the day the album was released, Bono wrote: "For the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way… the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail."
That didn't make everyone feel better, though. This Instagram from one of the 500 million iTunes users in 119 countries who got the album was captioned: "LEAVE ME ALONE"
Tyler, The Creator was not happy either:
U2's manager says the band anticipated the backlash before the album's release.