John Lydon says he hasn’t heard a word from his former Sex Pistols bandmates in years — and somehow still seems surprised by it.
In a new interview with The Times, Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) revealed he expected at least some kind of outreach after the death of his wife Nora Forster in 2023. It never came. “I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” he said.
The silence follows decades of bad blood between Lydon and guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock, and drummer Paul Cook — a feud that properly detonated in 2021 when Jones and Cook sued Lydon over the use of the band’s music in Danny Boyle’s miniseries, Pistol.
Lydon lost the court case after the other members successfully argued a majority-rules agreement allowed them to approve the project without him. The fallout was final: the remaining Sex Pistols reunited without Lydon, recruiting Frank Carter as frontman for their live shows.
Asked now whether he’d ever consider reuniting with the band, Lydon’s answer was blunt. “No.”
He also doubled down on his long-held dislike of Pistol, calling the series “terrible” and saying it bore little resemblance to the band he helped create. “Something in me wanted it to be good,” he said, “but it might as well have been about The Partridge Family. I don’t like anything to do with it because I wasn’t asked to contribute.”
None of this has come as a shock to anyone who’s followed the Pistols’ post-reunion implosions. In past interviews, Jones has openly admitted he once tried to break his own wrist just to escape a 2008 tour with Lydon, while Matlock described the singer’s behaviour on the road as “childish.” Cook has also flatly rejected the idea of ever working with Lydon again.
Lydon publicly slammed the recent reunion tour, branding it “karaoke” and suggesting “something darker” is going on behind the scenes. The band, however, weren’t biting.
Speaking to Rolling Stone AU/NZ ahead of their first run of Australian and New Zealand shows in nearly 30 years in early 2025, Jones confirmed there’s been zero contact with Lydon — and no interest in changing that.
“We don’t talk,” Jones said. “The last time I spoke to him was 2008. But I wish him all the best. We had a great time when we were young — it was life-changing for all of us. But after the court case with Pistol, it wasn’t even worth asking John about the reunion tour. I don’t think he was interested.”
Lydon, meanwhile, continues on with Public Image Ltd., with both camps touring Europe next summer… carefully scheduled so their paths will never cross.
