“To me that smacks of some kind of slave labour.” “That is like a total trap or prison and my fear is that they’re demanding that I agree to sign over the rights to a drama documentary that I am not allowed any access to. “It also seems completely unnecessary because there is no point in me being here or ever was if it is the case that I can just be completely outvoted by the vested interests of all in one management camp … and there is no way around that. In a witness statement before the court, he said: “The BMA has never been applied in anything we have ever done since 1998. Giving evidence at the Rolls Building in London on Wednesday, Mr Lydon said the Sex Pistols have so far managed to agree how to conduct their business with “unanimity”. Paul Cook arrives at the Rolls Building at the High Court in London with his wife Jeni (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Jones and Mr Cook argue that, under the terms of a band member agreement (BMA) made in 1998, decisions regarding licensing requests can be determined on a “majority rules basis”.īut Mr Lydon, who has previously told the Sunday Times he thinks the series is the “most disrespectful shit I’ve ever had to endure”, argues that licences cannot be granted without his consent. The six-part series, which is being made by Disney, is based on a 2016 memoir by Mr Jones called Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol. Former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten has said that an agreement at the centre of a High Court dispute between him and his ex-bandmates “smacks of slave labour”.įormer drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones are suing the punk group’s ex-lead singer, real name John Lydon, to allow their songs to be used in TV drama Pistol, which is directed by Danny Boyle and due to air next year.

Johnny rotten 2021