JOHN LYDON - LIVID LYDON BLASTS 'ATROCIOUS' RACISM CLAIMS

LIVID LYDON BLASTS 'ATROCIOUS' RACISM CLAIMS

Punk legend JOHN LYDON has warned he is willing to sue anyone who accuses him of racism after lashing out in a highly charged U.K. TV interview.
The Sex Pistols frontman slammed allegations he was involved in two separate controversial incidents earlier this month (Jul08).
Last week (begs21Jul08), Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke claimed he was involved in a scuffle with Lydon and his entourage backstage at a festival in Spain after a racist insult was hurled.
And on Saturday (26Jul08), U.K. newspaper The Sun alleged Lydon had been heard singing a derogatory song about Arabs during a boozy session at a South London bar.
But the singer – known as Johnny Rotten in his punk heyday – has angrily denied the claims, branding them “atrocious”.
In an interview with BBC's The One Show on Monday (28Jul08), Lydon fumed, “There has been a hell of a lot of freedom of the press, shall we say, where they have run wild, atrocious, really, really hurtful stories.
“My grandchildren are Jamaican. Right? Now this is an absolute offence to them and me, when you read stories like that that are allowed to go to print – absolutely unfounded – and have the liberty to take liberties with a man like me, and call me racist when my entire life has proved exactly the opposite.”
When host Adrian Chiles then asked, “So you’re not a racist then?”, Lydon furiously replied, “Absolutely not. And any bugger (person) that dares say so is going to have their day in court with me. You understand this?”