Johnny Rotten Threatens Legal Action Over Sex Pistols Miniseries, ‘Pistol’

The lead singer of the rock band the Sex Pistols John Lydon, better known by his stage name Johnny Rotten, showed his anger at the announcement of a miniseries based on the lives of the Sex Pistols band members titled Pistol. The series was created by Craig Pearce and is based on the autobiography Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by member Steve Jones, who will serve as an executive producer for the series. Pistol will air on FX with each episode of the show being directed by Danny Boyle.

Lydon called the series disrespectful and revealed that he did not give his consent for the project, nor was he comfortable with having a random actor play him in the show. Lydon said he would take legal action against Boyle and the people involved with the miniseries. “I think that’s the most disrespectful s–t I’ve ever had to endure,” Lydon told 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. It can’t go anywhere else [but court].”

Lydon has been against biographical films and television series based on the Sex Pistols – he originally panned the 1986 film Sid and Nancy, which according to Lydon got so many aspects wrong about Sid Vicious and implied that he was jealous of Vicious’ late girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

Lydon added that he was upset that neither Boyle nor anyone else involved with the show contacted him about Pistol for his opinion. “It’s not like we’re complete strangers,” he said. “Sorry, you think you can do this, like walk all over me – it isn’t going to happen. Not without a huge, enormous fucking 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.”

Pistol has already begun filming and will be released sometime during 2021.