John Lydon (Photo: Joanne Ostrowski / Live4ever Media)
John Lydon has described pop mogul Simon Cowell as ‘poisonous’ and ‘bad news for music’ in an interview with NME.
“He’s really bad news for music,” Lydon said. “He’s hilarious to watch but he’s poisonous really. He’s very destructive and bitter and twisted and evil.”
Lydon was also critical of Cowell’s request to use his former band the Sex Pistols‘ classic track ‘Pretty Vacant‘ on American Idol, describing it as a ‘ridiculous situation’.
“We had a ridiculous situation with American Idol when they wanted to use Pretty Vacant for this contestant because he was the ‘rock singer’ – the long hair and the scraggly beard and the leather jacket,” he continued.
“No, you cannot use it. Stop it. I don’t need someone imitating in that way. You’ve got the genuine article. What on earth do you want a fake phoney version like that for? Is that how it’s always going to be, according to Cowell’s universe?”
Meanwhile, Lydon’s band Public Image Ltd. will release their comeback album ‘This Is PiL‘ on May 28th.