Last month, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, (AKA Johnny Rotten), lost a court case against his former bandmates over an upcoming Danny Boyle mini-series.
Lydon was being sued by two former bandmates for refusing to licence their music for inclusion in the TV show Pistols.
The London High Court was told that a band agreement made in 1998 stated that decisions about licensing requests were to be made on a “majority rules basis.”
Based on that agreement, Lydon lost the lawsuit, as the court ruled that the former band members were entitled to invoke “majority voting rules” against their bandmate, despite it being somewhat outdated.
Now, Lydon and his legal representation have spoken out on the proceedings for the first time since they were unsuccessful in court – with statements issued on Lydon’s website, as reported by Variety.
“For more than 23 years the Sex Pistols have operated on the basis of unanimous decision making,” a representative for Lydon posted on the punk singer’s website. “The Disney production is the first time that the unanimous approach has been ignored.”
Lydon wrote, “I am the lead singer and songwriter, front man, image, the lot, you name it. I put it there. How is that not relevant? It is dumbfounding to me.”
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“It is so destructive to what the band is and so I fear that the whole project might be extremely negative,” Lydon continued.
“How can anyone think that this can proceed without consulting me and deal with my personal life in this, and my issues in this, without any meaningful contact with me before the project is announced to the world.”
“I don’t think there are even words that I can put forward to explain quite how disingenuous this is. As I said in the lyrics of ‘The Order of Death,’ This is what you want, this is what you get…”
On behalf of Lydon, his legal representation said, “Looking forward, there is great uncertainty about what the majority rule approach might do to water down and distort the true history and legacy of the Sex Pistols. Time will tell.”
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