John Lydon has insisted that he’ll “never forgive” his former Sex Pistols bandmates, calling them “special people with special needs”.
The bad blood between the London punk group’s ex-frontman (aka Johnny Rotten) and the remaining three members (Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock) stems from a lawsuit he filed back in 2021.
He refused to license the band’s music for inclusion in Danny Boyle’s biopic series, Pistol. However, Lydon ultimately lost the case, and the show was released via Disney+ in 2022.
During a new interview with Rolling Stone, Lydon explained that he couldn’t look past the legal dispute and would never make amends with his ex-bandmates.
“I’ll never forgive them for the way that they piled that court case on me while my wife was dying of Alzheimer’s. It was a most unfortunate act on their part, and then using Disney to strip-mine,” he told the outlet.
“If I didn’t raise, say, $10million after the first week, the case couldn’t go on. That’s money I could have spent taking care of my lovely [wife] Nora. They knew she was ill.”
When asked about a possible reunion with Sex Pistols in the future, Lydon responded: “It’s in the minus infinities. The dirt that they unloaded on me in a time where I was in real serious grief. No, I cannot forget about that.”
He also described the aforementioned Pistol as a “mockumentary”, before reiterating his anger over the “really untasteful” legal battle. “So no, I don’t hang out with low-renters,” Lydon added.
The singer was asked about past comments by Jones, who once said that Sex Pistols could potentially reunite with Lydon one day, if the money was right.
“They must be the only fools on the planet that could think that about me,” Lydon replied. “Well, then, they are special people with special needs.”
He hit out specifically at bassist Matlock, saying: “I’ve never liked him”. Lydon then described the musician as “a very unlikeable fellow”.
Late last year, Lydon claimed that his former bandmates did not reach out to him when his wife passed away. “I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” he said at the time.
He’d previously branded Sex Pistols’ reunion with Frank Carter as “karaoke” and “almost malicious in its intent” during an interview with NME. “And they’re ever so proud of saying they don’t like me and want nothing to do with me,” he told us.
Lydon later doubled down, insisting that he would “never” rejoin the group “after what I consider their dirty deeds”.
Earlier this year, Matlock responded to the current iteration of Sex Pistols being called a “tribute act”, and spoke out on whether Lydon could ever return. “It’s just not gonna happen,” he said.
Lydon has been busy with his band Public Image Ltd in recent years, and will be touring in North America with them later this year. Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, meanwhile, are celebrating 50 years of punk with a series of UK and Ireland gigs this winter.
Matlock spoke to NME in 2024 about Lydon’s criticism of the band for performing with Carter, saying that he was “wrong” when he assumed their live shows would be “bollocks”.
“John’s made his bed – he can lie in it. He’s happy doing his Public Image stuff. Good luck to him. It’s not my thing and I’m sure my thing isn’t his thing,” he said. “With me doing my club-level stuff, because I’ve been doing the Pistols, I don’t feel obligated to just turn up and be Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols. Marky Ramone, who I like, goes and plays all the Ramones songs. I think that’s a little bit lame.”
In early 2025, Lydon told us how the Public Image Ltd tour and working on “raucous” new music was helping him navigate bereavement. He then revealed at the start of this year that his appearance on The Masked Singer was helping fund the new album from the group.
