Sex Pistols' John Lydon: 'Simon Cowell is our worst enemy'

Sex Pistols star John Lydon has criticised Simon Cowell's role in producing a "cruise ship" culture in pop music.

The singer called the TV and music mogul his "worst enemy" in a talk at Oxford University's Sheldonian Theatre on Monday (December 8).

The punk said: "Simon Cowell, that's our worst enemy...I don't think [the contestants] on the [X Factor] are that awful, it becomes awful when they become trained into that cruise ship show band mentality, and that's the poison of it. [Simon Cowell] has got us all on his big cruise ship lollipop, and I ain't licking his lollipop.

"It's really bad, all of them shows. How seriously the judges take themselves, and the way they judge! People, just being innocent. The brutality and the cruelty of it; that ain't the world I live in."

The singer was speaking in promotion of his new book Anger Is An Energy, which is out now.

Watch John Lydon being interviewed below: