John Lydon says he’ll never rejoin “woke” Sex Pistols after “dirty deeds”

John Lydon has hit out at the Sex Pistols’ reunion again, saying he will never rejoin the band.

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Earlier this year, the former Pistols frontman criticised the reunion with Frank Carter branding it “karaoke” to NME.

Now, in a new interview with PA (via The Independent), when asked if he would reunite with the band, Lydon said: “Never, not after what I consider their dirty deeds, let them wallow in Walt Disney woke expectations. 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.”

The singer-songwriter previously fought a high-profile court battle against guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook in a bid to stop their songs being used in a 2022 Disney+ series of their story, Pistol, which was directed by Danny Boyle. Lydon eventually lost the case.

On the Sex Pistols’ current line-up, he added: “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 made similar comments to NME, earlier this year when asked whether he had had a chance to see footage of the band performing live. “No, but Mr Carter has to follow in Billy Idol’s footsteps, doesn’t he?,” he said at the time. “Poor Billy! I saw some clips on YouTube and he’s gasping for air – he can’t sing my songs! [Laughs] ‘No Feelings’ is the great separator.”

Speaking about his frustration with the band during their early days in the latest interview, he said: “I really wanted to [experiment with the Pistols] I wrote ‘Religion’, which is a famous PiL song, while in the Pistols, but unfortunately they wouldn’t go near it. ‘Oh you can’t say that’, it’s like, ‘Have you not heard everything I’ve been saying before?’, this is lightweight.

“That was frustrating, but I mean, again I don’t mean to be digging them out, it’s not their fault that they’re talentless and can’t fucking move on, is it? As for me, variety is the spice of life, I love all forms of music, and I adore anyone that’s got the balls to rehearse, play live, record, and then deal with the guillotine that’s called the press, you should get medals for this.”

The Pistols, who last performed with Lydon in 2008, headed out on a UK comeback tour last autumn, with Carter stepping in as frontman. This followed two intimate gigs at London’s Bush Hall, where they played ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ in full.

They have since announced further live appearances for 2025, including Download Festival and the Teenage Cancer Trust series at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Additionally, guitarist Jones told NME that Sex Pistols would be hitting the road in the US.

When asked about Lydon fronting the reunion, Jones recently told NME: “John ain’t interested in doing it. You think you’re gonna get a negative thing by doing [it without him], but I’m surprised. There was no backlash whatsoever. There was a few die-hards on Instagram, but they hadn’t even seen us. They just can’t see it without John, which I get, but even the ones that came out of curiosity were into it after a couple of songs.”

When asked whether he would ever get back in touch with Lydon, He responded: “Who knows? You never know…”

Pistols bassist Glen Matlock also recently spoke to NME about Lydon’s previous comments on their current reunion.

When it was put to him that Lydon was unhappy about the shows with Carter, saying they’d be “bollocks”, Matlock responded: “Well, he was wrong, wasn’t he, because they were good. 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.”

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