John Lydon's appearance on Andrew Marr show sparks uproar after immigrants remark
John Lydon appeared on Andrew Marr's LBC show to discuss his upcoming 45 date UK tour across many seaside towns
John Lydon says immigrants have created 'division'
Sex Pistols singer John Lydon sparked backlash after he made controversial remarks about immigrants during an appearance on Andrew Marr's LBC radio show. The legendry punk rocker, whose wife Nora sadly died last April, was on the programme to promote his upcoming 45-date-UK tour when his train of thought turned to immigration.
"Britain today is so, so catastrophically disappointing," he declared. "A lot of this tour that I'm doing will be in seaside towns and I mean they really indicate how run down Britain has become.
"Those used to be fantastic places when I was a kid, Mum and Dad would drag us off for what felt like hours in a traffic jam. But it was absolutely great. It was working-class people throwing sand at each other. It was excellent and the environment was economically thriving, I suppose, in those seaside towns everybody wanted a 'kiss me quick hat'. It was vibrant.
"Now it seems to be full of what they term prospective immigrants, which are really like illegals, not being cared for properly. But they shouldn't have been accepted in such vast numbers because it's created a real, real animosity in communities."
"The division when you import so many people with a completely different point of view. They're not going to adapt to yours. They're going to stay and bring the problems that they (are) allegedly escaping from," he ranted.
The show posted a clip of his interview to their X account and people were horrified by his thoughts, making their feelings known in the comments.
@DrPerci said: "This has nothing to do with migrants. You will always have people who have animosity against others. If you took migrants out of the equation, you’d still have groups of people forming cliques and critiquing/picking on someone that is different to their own perceived ‘norms’,"
@squinteratn said: "What a vile, bloated insult to his 70s and 80s self. Tells us immigrants don’t belong and Britain used to be great but made his name by not belonging and spitting searing truths about the awful state of Britain." (sic)
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Andrew did challenge John on the fact that he was an immigrant asking: "What is the difference because...we imported the Lydons. We imported your lot from Ireland as well. You are part of the Irish migrant group in North London."
"And the first thing my mum and dad ever would tell me when I was very young is we are British now," John shot back. "Be British and be proud of it. It's excellent advice and I followed through."
Express.co.uk has contacted representatives for John Lydon and Tonight With Andrew Marr for comment.