John Lydon has U-turned on his previous comments about never having watched Eurovision, telling Good Morning Britain that it was a big part of his childhood.
The former Sex Pistols frontman, 66, and his band Public Image Ltd (PiL) are competing to represent Ireland at this year’s contest in Liverpool with their song Hawaii, a ‘love letter’ to the singer’s wife Nora, who has Alzheimer’s disease.
Last week, Lydon said during an appearance on RTE’s Radio 1 that he had not once watched the competition series, branding the whole thing ‘disgusting’.
‘I’m a songwriter, I perform live, and these shows just come across as so dreadfully phoney to me,’ he said at the time.
However, Lydon appeared to backtrack on his previous remarks during a chat with Susanna Reid and Ed Balls on Monday’s Good Morning Britain, which began with Reid apologising for ‘defaming’ him for saying he hadn’t watched Eurovision.
‘Are you trying to get me booted out before I even begin?’ he chuckled.
‘I think everybody has been brought up by it,’ Lydon continued. ‘It was one of the highlights of TV in my youth where you would sit around with your family.
‘It’s part of the culture. Of course, I wondered off and did my own thing for a few years and now, oddly enough, this TV show in Ireland has nominated me out of 200 contestants with this song to go forward into the Eurovision.’
‘Win, lose, or draw, I’m bringing awareness to Alzheimer’s and that’s a win, and a win, and a win.
Last week, Cormac Ó hEadhra quizzed Lydon on how he plans to shake Eurovision up, to which he shrugged: ‘I’ve no idea. Apparently, I have to do karaoke over a backing track.’
Despite disregarding the event, the singer did express gratitude at being invited to compete to represent Ireland.
‘What a fantastic opportunity these people have given me,’ he enthused.
He also went on to shed light on his track Hawaii, revealing that he cried his eyes out while writing and recording it.
‘My wife when she sees this, it’s going to melt her, Alzheimer’s or not. It’s the most rewarding thing,’ he said.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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