Sex Pistols Frontman John Lydon Has Very Predictable Criticism of His Ex-Bandmates

John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon hasn’t been the frontman for the Sex Pistols in more than 15 years, and he’s still making it everyone’s problem.

In a new interview with PA—via The Independent—Lydon was asked about his old band and whether or not he’d ever want to reunite with them. “Never, not after what I consider their dirty deeds, let them wallow in Walt Disney woke expectations,” he said, referring to a 2022 court battle he mounted against guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook.

Lydon lost a lawsuit against his former bandmates in 2022

Lydon wanted to stop Jones and Cook from letting Sex Pistols songs be used in the Danny Boyle-directed limited series Pistol, which followed the band’s early days. The show was produced by Disney, via the FX channel they acquired when they bought 20th Century Fox several years ago. Ultimately, Lydon did not win the case.

“They’ve killed the content, or done their best to, and turned the whole thing into a rubbish, childishness, and that’s unacceptable,” he added. “Sorry, I’m not going to give a helping hand to this any longer, as far as I am concerned, I am the Pistols, and they’re not.”

(Insert old-man-yells-at-cloud meme)

Lydon also weighed in on the band’s subsequent vocalists, with the most recent being ex-Gallows frontman Frank Carter. “They had to get Billy Idol last year and now Mr Carter, to come in and listen to them (his lyrics) for them, that’s a clown’s circus at work,” he said.

The Sex Pistols Will Tour North America This Year

This fall, the Sex Pistols will embark on their first North American tour since 2003, which Lydon was a part of. This time around, it will be Carter on the mic and, frankly, that’s a way more enticing prospect than, say, a washed-up bootlicker huffing and puffing his way through “God Save the Queen,” hypothetically speaking.

Check out a full list of the Sex Pistols’ North American concert dates below:

Sept. 16 at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, TX
Sept. 23 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Sept. 26 at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 27 at TBD in Brooklyn, NY
Sept. 30 at MTELUS in Montreal, QC, CA
Oct. 1 at History in Toronto, ON, CA
Oct. 3 at the Agora Theatre in Cleveland, OH
Oct. 4 at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI
Oct. 7 at The Fillmore in Minneapolis, MN
Oct. 10 at the Mission Ballroom in Denver, CO
Oct. 13 at the Showbox SODO in Seattle, WA
Oct. 15 at Warfield in San Francisco, CA
Oct. 16 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA