John Joseph Lydon, the lead vocalist in the Sex Pistols rock band has been accused of racist attack by Kele Okereke the frontman of the English Indie rock band Bloc Party.
The incident took place in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday when Kele, a fan of the 52-year-old Lydon, who is also known as Johnny Rotten, approached him to ask whether he would ever consider reforming his band Public Image Limited. Kele claimed that he had been attacked by several men on approaching Lydon backstage. An official statement of Bloc Party claimed that Lydon became intimidating and aggressive and his associates directed “racist tirade” at Kele that included the comment “Your problem is your black attitude”.
The incident was reportedly witnessed by a crowd of about fifty people. One of the witnesses described the entourage accompanying Lydon as “acting like a gang of racist thugs”. Kele sustained facial cuts and bruises in the unexpected attack. Asked about the attack, a visibly stunned Kele said,
It’s not an issue of the physical assault, even though it was an unprovoked attack, it is the fact that race was brought into the matter so readily.
He continued,
Someone as respected and as intelligent as Lydon should know better than to bring race into the equation, or socialise with and 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.
John Lydon has, however, denied claims by Kele that he was racially abused and attacked by members of the Sex Pistols’ entourage in Barcelona. The incident allegedly occurred at the Summercase Festival in Barcelona and the Festival’s security personnel broke the altercation before reporting it to the police.
Source: stuff
