My Sex Pistol Singer Beat Up Your Bloc Party Singer At A Party...
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Artist:
You'd think if you put Bloc Party, Foals, Kaiser Chiefs, Neon Neon, Har Mar Superstar and Mystery Jets in a room with the Sex Pistols you'd have a great party, right? Well, members of each band were kickin' it together backstage at Summercase festival in Spain over the weekend. But the fun was interrupted when all watched a bizarre skirmish between Sex Pistol singer John Lydon and Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke - which left Okereke bruised and bloodied!
That's right - this guy:
and his entourage allegedly attacked this guy:
spewing racist comments about Okereke's "black attitude." What did Kele Okereke do to provoke such a violent reaction from Lydon? According to Billboard, "He says he approached Lydon backstage at Summercase to ask if he'd ever reunite with Public Image Ltd., one of Okereke's favorite bands." A report on FACT magazine elaborates:
...at which point Lydon "became intimidating and aggressive while his entourage responded with a racist tirade including the statement, 'Your problem is your black attitude'." Okereke was then "set upon" by three memebers of Lydon's entourage, who punched him in the face and head, and attacked poeple who were trying to protect him from the assault, including Foals' Yannis Philippakis and Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson.
A press statement publicized Okereke's disappointment in the incident:
"It's not an issue of physical assault, even though it was an unprovoked attack," the Bloc Party frontman says, "It is the fact that race was brought into the matter so readily. Someone as respected and as intelligent as John Lydon should know better than to bring race into the equation, or socialise with an encourage those who hold such narrow-minded attitudes. I am disappointed that someone I held with such high regard turns out to be such a bigot."
Reports say the whole thing was witnessed by over 50 people, including members of all the bands mentioned earlier.
More info:
And, just for the record, I'm not being biased with those photos - if you do a google image search of both singers, you will find that most pix are in the spirit of the ones I used here. (Just to be fair.) Face it, John Lydon is scary lookin! I bet Kele is looking pretty scary too, now.
Comments (17)
John Lydon seems to be an idiot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20050824_punkpunchup.shtml
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2008/06/0508.cfm
http://www.beersteak.com/celebrities/john-lydon-johnny-rotten-accused-punching-roxanne-davis/
i worked with PiL for a couple of months and it was rough. got very little done, but it was pretty amazing stuff.
Robin, did Lydon display racist attitudes in your company?
I read an otherwise fascinating interview with Lydon some years ago which was marred by his obvious contempt and know-your-place attitude towards a black waitress, who did her best to humour him. Obviously this proves nothing re the Bloc Party assault but I found it offputting. As Lydon was the son of Irish immigrants in London, I expected a more considered attitude with regard to race. I found the interview online (in The Guardian's shopping section for some reason): http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/music/story/0,,716672,00.html
Here's the exchange with the waitress:
'We are not allowed to smoke. Now Lydon is unhappy. The black waitress carefully explains all the options, including smoking downstairs.
"Would you like tea?" she says.
"Well, I wanted tea 10 minutes ago, not a conversation, thanks."
"Which tea?"
"English. Don't forget where we are."
"I must get you tea from Africa," she says, laughing.
"Yeah. Zulu tea if you have it. I've had it before."
"Well, next time I go home I'll bring some back."
It's as if time has stood still. We could be back in 1977 - language, observations, attitudes, everything.'
Why does this kind of crap keep happening... Rodney King is right... why can't we all just get along
From FluxyColin... "As Lydon was the son of Irish immigrants in London, I expected a more considered attitude with regard to race."
I couldn't agree more - but mostly it makes me sad for him because this isn't a way to behave & there was no apparent cause & certainly NO excuse fo this bad behavior.
Sure... how 'punk' is that behaviour?
There is not a difference between his attitude and a cop's bastard.
Lydon just lost a younger generation of music lovers buying his music.
i don't remember any particularly racist attitudes, but rather a way of life that was generally inconsiderate of others and flat-out, uh.........not nice? (that's the PC version). it's one thing to see people on stage with attitude, but it's another to deal with it when you realize they're not acting.
it started out right at the beginning of 2 months of studio sessions that were scheduled from 7pm-7am in NY that i was engineering and it never stopped. John actually watched a TON of TV while Keith and the others "worked". it's too much typing to get into detail, but let's just say that when i saw John walking down Washington in Venice about a year ago, i had no desire to say "whassup?"
"Will PiL ever reunite?" -The Nerve! What stereotypical "black attitude." I say this all with complete sarcasm at the absurdity of Lydon's behavior. What a prick. I knew he was an asshole, but this is new territory even for him.
my reaction was similar to Charley's - there's a whole generation of music consumers who have little reason to appreciate the Sex Pistols. but when a Sex Pistol beats up members of a band this generation has come to love, fans have even less reason to appreciate the punk pioneers.
absurd is the best description of Lydon's reaction to a totally reasonable question.
Sad really, guys goes to give an idol props and gets hit instead. If I never listen to another John Lydon song I will be a better person for it
Funny how the man who sang 'Anarchy In The UK' and 'God Save The Queen' is now a jaded, middle-aged bigot who'd probably be very appealing to middle England. What a f*cknut.
Maybe Lydon was PMSing - can't handle the hormone shifts! Too bad the man is so hostile in general - obviously it's working well for him. ASS!
I'm not sure how big this was in the U.K., but if it happened in the U.S. it would be gigantic news. Hate crimes are usually big news if committed in a non-Red state. If they happen between famous people, definitely big time national news. I hope nobody buys any of Lydon's work, although I'd feel bad for his co-band members if it affects them and they don't have the same attitude.
Eh, the Sex Pistols aren't half as influential as they think they are anyway, and noone outside of this website or Rolling Stone even knows who PiL is. Give me some Ramones or Black Flag over those guys any day.
Sucks for Kele to have such a disappointing encounter with someone he once respected though.
you know, something funny just happened. i was playing my music on shuffle and god save the queen came on, and then banquet by bloc party followed right after that. strange coincidence, considering i read this post just today. ha.
I don't buy it. More than likely, I think it's an aggrivated incident, and the entourage member was the racist.
There's a reason that the Sex Pistols love and hate each other. Talent and cash flow vs. attitudes and lifestyles. Paul & Steve are still mates, John only hangs with John "Rambo" Stevens, and Glen is the outcast (but can play bass). I still love Bollocks and much enjoyed their 1996 reunion and live album. Then there is PIL. PIL is just John in control of studio session musicians who don't write the words or feel them. I liked the first 2 albums of PIL, but it became dull without the junkies and druggies playing guitar & bass!