Johnny Rotten has already made it clear he thinks Russell Brand is a "bumhole," and now, the Sex Pistols frontman has ramped up his attack against the comedian, calling his 'Revolution' "the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.”
In an interview with The Guardian's Polly Toynbee the punk pioneer acerbically derided Brand for urging young people not to vote in the upcoming 2015 General Election, saying those that follow his stance are just "demanding to be ignored" and "not very smart at all."
Toynbee backed the 58-year-old singer, calling Brand's stance "nonsense."
"He’s right," she wrote. "Brand’s 'revolution' is vain and destructive, peddling unreal, hip alternatives."
Without proportional representation, she added new parties "have no hope… Politics is never cool, because voting means opting for a least worst, never the imagined ideal."
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Rotten, aka John Lydon, accused Brand of hypocrisy, as the comedian continues to plug his book in the states, saying: “That’s a ratpile of laziness. What he’s preaching is a lifestyle of cardboard boxes down by the river. And he’s preaching all this from a mansion.”
He lambasted the Hollywood actor, whose flag of revolution was unfurled on MSNBC on Tuesday night, for encouraging political apathy, adding "you don’t get nothing because you’ve done nothing."
“The likes of Russell Brand coming along and saying something so damn ignorant is just spoon-feeding it to them," he said, referring to those in charge of the country.
Brand took on the established social order last year
“A hundred years ago who could vote here? To have that so easily, so flippantly ignored in that lazy-arsed way, in that ‘I take drugs and tell not very funny jokes’ way, it’s very poor.
"You have to vote, you have to make a change. You’re given lousy options, yes, but better than nothing at all.”
The singer dismissed Brand's argument that all parties are the same and therefore not worth voting for, saying: “There’s a huge difference. It’s just that their representatives are bland.
"But it’s clear, if you’ve got a pile of money in the bank, you vote for people with piles of money in the bank."
Lydon, who made his name singing about anarchy, urged the youth of the UK to "stand up and be counted, make your voice heard or else you’re just going to fade into insignificance."
"Vote, bloody well vote! You’ll get nothing otherwise, and you’ll get slightly more than nothing if you do – but that’s better than nothing.”
Rotten has called on voters to ignore Russell Brand
Lydon also made it clear earlier in the week that he believes that disillusionment from politics is no excuse not to vote, telling those at Cheltenham Literature Festival "don't be like Russell Brand".
The Sex Pistols singer is far from the first to publicly disagree with the Hollywood actor, with the minister in charge of boosting turnout at elections most recently saying his stance was a "travesty".
Tory MP Sam Gyimah said "it is sad when a leading celebrity feels they can encourage people not to vote and that video gets more hits on YouTube than any political interview. It is a travesty of where we are."
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett also recently said that Brand's non-voting tactics would only leave "older people, wealthier people, better educated people, engaged people" in charge of the polls.
"Paradoxically the more those who are not engaged are ignored, targeted under the austerity programme and dismissed, the more alienated and disillusioned they become. Politicians they say "don’t give a damn about us," he said.
Last year, Robert Webb hit headlines after encouraging Brand to read George Orwell's 1984 and saying the comedian's plans would inevitably lead to “death camps” and “repression”.
Webb accused Brand of political "timidity" for not voting and suggested that he should better educate himself by reading "some fucking Orwell".