Johnny Rotten sued by ex-Sex Pistols members over upcoming miniseries
John Lydon is being sued by former Sex Pistols bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook for the right to use the band’s songs in Danny Boyle’s upcoming biopic miniseries about the UK punk icons. Earlier this year, Lydon (who went by Johnny Rotten in his Pistols days) called the miniseries, which is based on Jones’ memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, the “most disrespectful shit,” complained that he wasn’t consulted about the series, and was threatening legal action.
The Associated Press reports that Edmund Cullen, the lawyer that represents Jones and Cook, told a judge at the High Court in London on Thursday that Cook and Jones have a “brittle and fractious” relationship with Lydon, but that the band members had made an agreement in 1988 that song usage would be on a “majority rules basis” and that they also had the support of bassist Glen Matlock and the estate of the late Sid Vicious.
Meanwhile, Lydon’s lawyer, Mark Cunningham, has said in written arguments that Jones’s memoir portrayed him “in a hostile and unflattering light,” referring to Lydon at one point as an “annoying little brat with the great bone structure who’s always asking for more.”
The AP reports that arguments will likely go into next week. Stay tuned.