Johnny Rotten, one of the original purveyors of all things punk, is, these days, apparently Making America Great Again (MAGA). The punk icon, who has been living in Los Angeles since the days of the Sex Pistols, was spotted ahead of a show in Louisiana wearing the dreaded MAGA shirt while hanging out of a window having a pre-gig smoke.
The Sex Pistols are one of the best known punk bands in the world. Their seminal album Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols, released in 1977, introduced the world to a searing, snotty, arrogant style of punk that revolutionized music and the social landscape that accompanied it. The Sex Pistols, fronted by Rotten, have been known for outrageous and provocative stunts throughout their storied career, like trolling the Queen of England during her Silver Jubilee (also in 1977) and band members wearing Nazi swastikas as part of the band’s branding — wearing a MAGA shirt seems mild by comparison.
The Daily Mail reported that during an interview with ITV Britain, Rotten spoke about President Trump, 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.” Telling a story about the time he pissed of the president by stepping on Melania Trump’s dress at a function in New York City, he said, “I have a habit in doing this, which I don’t do deliberately, but if women insist on wearing dresses that are ten miles long then I will accidentally put my foot on it… So I stood on his wife’s dress and he spun around and was giving it all the tough-guy stuff.”
Regardless of his antics, Rotten also claimed that his becoming an American citizen was partly influenced by the policies of then-President Barack Obama. Speaking to Noisey in 2015, the singer said, “Oh, I would’ve never done it during the Bush years. The way America presented itself abroad — as greedy, egotistical, violent monsters — was horrible.” He went on to say that America under Obama has the potential to be a “nation that actually cares for its afflicted and wounded and ill and disenfranchised.”
God save the Queen.
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