John Lydon has said he will "never forgive" his former Sex Pistols bandmates following a bitter legal battle over the band's music, insisting there is no chance of a reunion.
The former frontman, also known as Johnny Rotten, has been at odds with Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock since a 2021 court case over the use of the band's songs in Danny Boyle's Disney+ series, Pistol.
Lydon opposed the use of the music in the series and took legal action to stop it. However, he lost the case, allowing the show to go ahead when it was released in 2022.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, the singer said the legal dispute came at one of the most difficult periods of his life, while his wife Nora Foster was battling Alzheimer's disease.
Former Sex Pistol John Lydon. Zamrznuti Tonovi, Shutterstock
"I’ll never forgive them for the way that they piled that court case on me while my wife was dying of Alzheimer’s. It was a most unfortunate act on their part, and then using Disney to strip-mine me," he said.
Lydon claimed the lawsuit placed a huge financial burden on him at a time when he wanted to focus on caring for his wife.
"If I didn’t raise, say, $10 million after the first week, the case couldn’t go on. That’s money I could have spent taking care of my lovely Nora... They knew she was ill."
Nora Foster died in 2023 at the age of 80 after living with Alzheimer's disease.
Lydon also revealed that none of his former bandmates contacted him following her death, saying any possibility of the original Sex Pistols getting back together is now gone.
"The dirt that they unloaded on me in a time where I was in real serious grief … No, I cannot forget about that," he said.
Former Sex Pistol John Lydon. Northfoto, Shutterstock
While he remains deeply hurt by what happened, Lydon insisted he no longer holds any bitterness towards the band.
"I don’t have spite in me. If they’d gone about this another way and were open and friendly with me, who knows what gifts that may have brought, but they decided skullduggery was the order of the day."
The comments are the latest chapter in the long-running feud between Lydon and his former bandmates, who have reunited in recent years without him.
The singer has repeatedly criticised both the reunion and the decision to approve Pistol, making it clear that there is little chance of the original lineup reconciling.
