John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, has lost a lawsuit against his former Sex Pistols bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook, Variety and The Guardian report. Lydon had declined to license the band’s music for Danny Boyle’s forthcoming FX series, Pistol, but a London court determined that, under the terms of a 1988 agreement, no single member holds a veto over licensing rights, which can be granted by majority vote. 

Lydon’s lawyer argued in court documents that the show portrays the singer in “a hostile and unflattering light,” as “the annoying little brat with the great bone structure who’s always asking for more.” He argued the 1988 contract had never been adhered to and was therefore void, which Jones and Cook called a “straightforward lie,” The Guardian reports. 

In a statement, Jones and Cook said: “We welcome the court’s ruling in this case. It brings clarity to our decision making and upholds the band members’ agreement on collective decision making. It has not been a pleasant experience, but we believe it was necessary to allow us to move forward and hopefully work together in the future with better relations.”

FX ordered the six-episode limited run in January, based on guitarist Steve Jones’ 2018 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol. The show, due to air next year, stars Anson Boon (1917) as Lydon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (The Queen’s Gambit) as Malcolm McLaren.