Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones mourn Malcolm McLaren

Image Credit: Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty ImagesSex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten, a.k.a. John Lydon, has issued a statement of condolence on the death today of the Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren. “For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that,” Rotten said in a statement provided by his reps. “Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”

McLaren discovered the then-unknown John Lydon in the mid-1970s, catapulting him to worldwide fame as the face of the Sex Pistols. While Lydon has generally gone by his birth name in recent years, he issued this statement under the stage name he famously used with the Pistols.

UPDATE: Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones issued his own statement on April 9. “I was upset when I heard the news, as I’ve always had a soft spot for Malcolm,” Jones wrote. “I knew him since I was 17 before the Pistols formed — I used to drive him around in Vivienne Westwood’s car to the tailors in London in the days of the ‘Let It Rock’ clothing store. Malcolm was definitely the Brian Epstein of punk — without him it wouldn’t have happened the way it did. I stayed friends with him throughout the years despite some of our differences. He came on ‘Jonesy’s Jukebox’ a couple of years ago, and that’s a good memory. But my fondest memory of Malcolm, and I loved the guy, was his birthday gift to me when I turned 21 — he got me a hooker and some heroin.”

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