John Lydon weighs in on Kneecap: “maybe they need a bloody good kneecapping!”

Sex Pistols and PiL frontman John Lydon appeared on the UK’s Good Morning Britain today, primarily to discuss his upcoming spoken word/Q&A tour he’s calling I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right (cribbed from PiL’s “Rise” lyrics). But of course the conversation hit on a lot of different topics and he was asked about Irish rap group Kneecap who have found themselves under the microscope and catching backlash about a 2023 show where they apparently told the audience “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

Lydon noted that the line–which has caused outrage with some in the UK–was “done so to do so,” but if you thought he might see some commonalities between Kneecap and the Sex Pistols, think again. This is not the punk singer of 1977 or even 1987, and he has steadily drifted towards more conservative views. He added, “If you’re advocating the death of another human being, then you have no cause whatsoever. You are my enemy from here on in for the rest of your mediocre existence.”

Lydon, who is Irish and lived through the ’70s when the Irish were heavily discriminated against in England, went on to say, “You shouldn’t be talking like that, you shouldn’t be making enemies of your fellow human beings.” He then added, contradicting himself more than a little, “Other than that, maybe they need a bloody good kneecapping!”

You can watch that part of Lydon’s segment on Good Morning Britain below.

Kneecap released a statement that apologized to the families of late MPs Jo Cox and David Amess, who were murdered in 2016 and 2021 respectively, writing that the group “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual” and saying the footage was “deliberately taken out of all context…exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.”

In the US, Kneecap are catching heat mostly due to their pro Palestine stance, which has outraged FOX News and Sharon Osbourne, among others. Since their controversial Coachella performances, they released a statement, writing in part, “The reason Kneecap is being targeted is simple — we are telling the truth, and our audience is growing. Those attacking us want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter. They weaponize false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide. We do not give a f*ck what religion anyone practices. We know there are massive numbers of Jewish people outraged by this genocide just as we are.”