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Punk legend and relentlessly bilious quote machine John Lydon has spoken to slam Simon Cowell and the efforts of Band Aid, branding the X Factor boss 'our worst enemy' and slamming the charity initiative as 'corrupt'.
Always outspoken, the Sex Pistols and PiL icon was speaking at Oxford University's Sheldonian Theatre about his life and new autobiography, Anger Is An Energy, when he took aim at the reality 'music' show.
"Simon Cowell, that's our worst enemy," he said, reports NME. "I don't think [the contestants] on the show are that awful, it becomes awful when they become trained into that cruise ship show band mentality, and that's the poison of it...” he began. "[Simon Cowell] has got us all on his big cruise ship lollipop, and I ain't licking his lollipop."
Lydon went on: "It's really bad, all of them shows. How seriously the judges take themselves, and the way they judge! People, just being innocent. The brutality and the cruelty of it; that ain't the world I live in.”
Listen to PiL's 'Death Disco' below
He also had some choice words saved for Bob Geldof's Band Aid 30 efforts, describing the initiative as "full of corruption".
"I never found Band Aids work, they think they're waterproof, get full of water and then fall off – and it's the same with Geldof's lot," he said. "I don't like them because they're open to corruption. There's this thing called administration and that's where all the money is eaten up.
Lydon added: "Do you remember the one with Phil Collins and they were jetting around, doing New York, London? How much fucking money? How many cans of Campbell's do you think that one cost? And who really needs Phil Collins in two continents in two hours? Even his missus would have a no on that."
Band Aid 30's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' single, which has become the fastest selling of the year, has recieved a mixed response from social media and the press. Damon Albarn described it as 'misguided', Emeli Sande apologised for the lyrics, Lily Allen called it 'smug' and many have chosen to donate to the fight against Ebola rather than indulge it.
Ebola survivor Will Pooley even took a swipe at it. Despite this, it topped the charts, albeit before Take That took over.
