Punk icon John Lydon – aka Johnny Rotten – has criticized a forthcoming Sex Pistols biopic series and slammed "woke" culture.
“That’s the most disrespectful s**t I’ve ever had to endure,” Lydon said of the FX series Pistol, to The Sunday Times. “I mean, they went to the point to hire an actor to play me but what’s the actor working on? Certainly not my character.”
Anson Boon portrays Lydon in the six-part series, which is based on Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones’ 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol and directed by Danny Boyle.
Lydon, 65, said he was never contacted about the project and is exploring legal options. “Sorry, you think you can do this, like walk all over me – it isn’t going to happen,” he fumed. “Not without a huge, enormous f**king fight.
“I’m Johnny, you know, and when you interfere with my business you’re going to get the bitter end of my business as a result. It’s a disgrace.”
In the same Sunday Times interview, Lydon slammed “woke” culture as a “load of bollocks” and blamed universities.
He said: “These people aren’t really genuinely disenfranchised at all, they just view themselves as special. It’s selfishness and in that respect it’s divisive and can only lead to trouble. Where is this ‘moral majority’ nonsense coming from when they’re basically the ones doing all the wrong for being so bloody judgmental and vicious against anybody who doesn’t go along with the current popular opinion?
“It’s just horribly, horribly tempestuous spoilt children coming out of colleges and universities with s**t for brains.”
The Sex Pistols released only one studio album – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols – but are credited with sparking the punk movement in the UK.