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Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten seen wearing MAGA shirt, disappointed fans call punk legend a 'big f***ing poser'

In viral photographs, Johnny Rotten can be seen wearing a 'Make America Great Again' t-shirt and fans of the former Sex Pistols frontman aren't happy

Johnny Rotten seems to have gone the Kanye West route and people are not pleased. In new viral photographs, the 64-year-old punk legend can be seen wearing a 'Make America Great Again' t-shirt and fans of the former Sex Pistols frontman are not happy even though this isn't the first time the rocker has shown support for right-wing politics. Johnny, whose real name is John Lydon, has been open about his support for Trump and Brexit for some time now.

The singer's act inevitably drew comparisons to West as the rapper confirmed his support for President Donald Trump back in 2019 by wearing the MAGA hat. "From now on I’m performing with my mutherf**king hat on," he said. "One of my favorite of many things about what the Trump hat represents to me is that people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black. That’s real racism," he had tweeted at the time.

The photographs of Johnny rocking the MAGA shirt was posted by a fan who wrote, "10 year old me is absolutely gutted that this is what his hero turned into. John Lydon, about as punk as a game of golf. Big f***ing poser." The tweet has since been hidden as the account has been turned private.

To provide some background, Johnny is one of the most revered figures in punk history and the vocalist for the iconic band Sex Pistols that took the world by storm when they released their only album to date titled 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols'. As the pioneers of punk rock, the Sex Pistols were known for espousing anarchist views through their songwriting by creating legendary tracks like 'Anarchy in the UK', 'God Save the Queen' and 'Pretty Vacant'.

Twitter was quick to react to the controversy. One Lyndon and Sex Pistols fan, feeling highly disappointed, tweeted, "How does this happen to a person? He was a working class Irish lad growing up in London. He's been vocally anti imperial. His f**king autobiography is called 'No Irish, No Blacks, No dogs'. Is it money? Is it age? He's been an eejit for a while, but this is bad."

Another fan of Johnny, quoting Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong who has, in the past, had a public falling out with the former Sex Pistols vocalist, wrote, "Billie Joe Armstrong had the best comment about the ethos of John Lydon and the Sex Pistols: "I am the anti-Christ/Please buy our merchandise"".

Some weren't surprised by Johnny's behavior like this one user who tweeted, "Feels like every 2.5 years or so the internet realizes that Johnny Rotten actually sucks as a person," while another, sharing similar sentiments, said, "I’m genuinely surprised at how many people didn’t know Johnny Rotten is a piece of s**t and that the Sex Pistols were one of the biggest detriments to punk, as they were only created (yes, created like a pop boy-band) to sell clothes for Malcolm McLaren."

Another ex-fan, tweeting a picture of the late former Sex Pistols guitarist Sid Vicious wearing a Nazi swastika t-shirt, added, "If you’re upset at Johnny Rotten wearing a Trump shirt wait until I tell you about Sid Vicious." Expanding of this point further, a user explained, "Some context for Johnny Rotten. In the late-70s a lot of punks ironically adapted the swastika as a lazy way to piss off the older generation. Not everyone approved, and this turned out to be extremely dumb as it was later used by actual nazis to infiltrate the scene..."

A different Twitter user, reminding everyone of Johnny's past behavior, jokingly wrote, "Me: Why are people mad at Johnny Rotten again? Also Me: Because we have the collective memory of a goldfish? Me: Ah, right, carry on."

Fans of the former punk legend – who has fronted the band Public Image Ltd since 1978 – defended him saying that he is wearing the MAGA shirt to be provocative and not because he actually supports Trump. But, in a 2017 NPR interview, he said the following about Trump: "I think he's absolutely magnificent. He's a total cat amongst the pigeons. It's got everybody now involving themselves in a political way. And I've been struggling for years to get people to wake up and do that."

Later, during a 'Good Morning Britain' appearance the same year,he defended Trump once again saying, "What I dislike is the left-wing media in America are trying to smear the bloke as a racist and that's completely not true. There are many, many problems with him as a human being but he's not that and there just might be a chance something good will come out of that situation because he terrifies politicians."

In the same 'Good Morning Britain' episode, Johnny sided with Brexit and said, "Where do I stand on Brexit? Well, here it goes, the working class have spoke and I’m one of them and I’m with them."

The Sex Pistols impact

The Sex Pistols are one of the most impactful musical acts in history having influenced various genres like grunge, indie, thrash metal and rap. Some artists that have listed Sex Pistols as an influence include Jesus and Mary Chain, NOFX, The Stone Roses, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Green Day, and Oasis. Christopher Nolan even said that Johnny inspired the characterization of The Joker – played by Heath Ledger – from 'The Dark Knight'.

In 2004, Rolling Stone placed them #58 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2006, the Sex Pistols were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but refused to attend the ceremony calling it "a piss stain".