The former Sex Pistols frontman took a few shots at Jay-Z in a new NME interview.

Jay-Z lies at the cross-hairs of Johnny Rotten‘s latest publicity stunt tirade. The Sex Pistols/Public Image Ltd. singer has recently published a memoir which is in direct competition with Jay-Z‘s “Decoded” for NME’s Shockwave award. When asked his opinion of the rapper by the British magazine, Rotten insulted the hip-hop mogul and claimed he’d stolen crowds from him:

“Come on! I’m afraid what he does is parody to me. Jay-Z’s just nonsense… I’ve never met him, but twice I’ve had to play a stage opposite when he was on. One was in Coachella and one was in Poland, and both times I pulled an enormous crowd away from him. He certainly must have noticed.” (NME)

Rotten, a man who’s no stranger to controversy, also had some words about Keith Richards‘ book “Life” which is also nominated for that category. “I’ve heard it’s just full of kiss and tell stories about guns and drugs and women,” he told NME.

Come on, Johnny. Take it easy! There’s plenty of ammo out there that all these enemies you seem to love making could use against you. Former punk icon loses all credibility and does a commercial for Country Life Butter, for example?