John Lydon expresses ambivalence towards Sex Pistols bandmates: “I don’t feel anything for them”
John Lydon has expressed ambivalence towards his former Sex Pistols bandmates, saying, “I don’t feel anything for them”.
The frontman was speaking in a recent interview with The Mirror when he was asked about his thoughts on Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock, who have been touring since 2024 with Frank Carter as their new frontman.
Now, Lydon has said on the new incarnation of the band, “I don’t feel no pity for them, rage or hatred. I don’t feel anything for them.”
Lydon’s relationship with his former rock group was definitively soured when he lost a High Court case for their music not to be used in the 2022 Disney+ series Pistol, directed by Danny Boyle and based on Jones’s 2017 memoir.
Regarding this, as well as his exclusion from the reunion, Lydon emphatically stated: “It should be a very important part of our history and they threw that away and turned us into the David Cassidy show. I hope those Disney dollars are rammed firmly up their buttocks.”
This is not the first time that Lydon has expressed disdain for the current Sex Pistols line-up. Earlier this year, he told the PA, “They’ve killed the content, or done their best to, and turned the whole thing into a rubbish, childishness, and that’s unacceptable.”
Additionally, Lydon also revealed that he was angry upon discovering the Sex Pistols had reunited with Carter as their vocalist, stating, “When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me, it pissed me off.“
He also compared their show to karaoke, saying, “They’re trying to trivialise the whole show to get away with karaoke, but in the long term, I think you’ll see who has the value and who doesn’t.”
Elsewhere in the new wide-ranging interview, the singer turned his attention to US President Donald Trump, whom he previously infamously mooted as “a possible friend”, but has now rowed back on these comments. He recalled an experience of meeting the American leader at an awards ceremony, and said he “did not like him”.
Lydon is currently undertaking a speaking tour of the UK called Untamed, Unscripted, and Uncensored, where he will next perform at the King George Hall in Blackburn on November 12th.
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