Legendary Sex Pistols and Public Image Limited front man tells BBC he would not separate himself from his audience because of the 'political powers-that-be.'

 

I will not cancel my Tel Aviv show despite the hate mail I have been receiving, legendary Sex Pistols and Public Image Limited front John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon told BBC radio on Tuesday, assuaging fears that he would join the summer's other recent musical cancellations.

John Lydon

John Lydon of Public Image Ltd. performs at the Coachella Music Festival in California April 16, 2010.

Photo by: Reuters

Lydon old the BBC's "6 Music, that "of course, there are all sorts of terrible politics going on down there but there is just about all over the world," saying one could not "separate yourself from your audience because of the political powers-that-be."

"I'm anti-government... and I shall be making that loud and clearly proud once I'm in Israel," Lydon told the BBC, adding that PiL has been receiving "a lot of hate mail... [but] I say, 'Don't be so ignorant, it's John speaking here and I'm going there to cause trouble and I will do it musically.'"

Lydon's comments came after several recent major artists, such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies and Devendra Banhart, canceled their Israel shows, citing recent tensions in the region, heightened in the wake of Israel's raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla, which resulted in the death of 9 flotilla participants.

http://www.haaretz.com/culture/johnny-rotten-hate-mail-won-t-cause-me-to-cancel-tel-aviv-show-1.301942