John Lydon Gets Less Interesting By The Day

Dan Gibson | July 22, 2008 12:30 pm
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This weekend’s Summercase festival in Barcelona should have been what most festivals are: A celebrations of commerce intermixed with music you sort of enjoy. But John Lydon apparently couldn’t let people enjoy their three-euro water bottles and Bloc Party.

Details are still shaky and confusing on several levels, but according to Bloc Party lead singer Kele Okereke, after he asked Lydon if he would ever consider reforming Public Image Ltd., the real excitement kicked in.

Lydon then allegedly became intimidating and aggressive while members of his entourage responded with a racist tirade including the statement “your problem is your black attitude”.

Okereke claims he was subsequently punched in the face and head resulting in severe facial bruising and cuts to his face and body.

Lydon claims that the entire incident has been manufactured for publicity, saying that the other bands on the festival’s bill were jealous of his three-hour autograph session. Whether someone in Lydon’s entourage made a racist comment or not is unclear, and likely not to be resolved, but imagining Lydon as a jackass isn’t terribly difficult. Somehow, I think he’s going to be shouting profanities while pushing his walker around a stage well into the future. Sure, I’m thankful for what Lydon provided to music at some point in time, but is there any chance we could have him sent away somewhere? Maybe not for being an alleged bully, but at this point, for being boring?

Sex Pistols star John Lydon denies racist abuse allegations [Telegraph]