While a lot of contestants on The Masked Singer are celebrities you wouldn’t expect to see on stage belting it out, they get a lot of actual singers on the program. In just the current season, some of the singers who have been unmasked include Natasha Bedingfield, Tyga, and Toni Braxton. Well, now a punk legend has been added to the list, as it was revealed that Johnny Rotten (aka John Lydon) of the Sex Pistols was the jester character. He went out with a bang, covering Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” before being eliminated from the program.
Rotten told Billboard his appearance on the show was mostly for his wife’s benefit, saying, “Someone contacted my manager and we discussed it and I thought it would be really good because it meant my lovely wife, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, might get a great sense of fun out of it if she managed to guess who it was. We’ve lived together for 47 years, Nora and I, so she must have some clues as to who I am and what I can get up to.” He later added, “This is a giggle, which I don’t mind sharing with the general public, but mostly because I want to see my wife happy. Alzheimer’s is a very, very challenging illness. Any connection I can have to bring joy into her life I’m more than happy to do that. Those are my motives.”
As for what a young rebellious Rotten would think of his older self appearing on a reality singing show, present-day Rotten said, “‘What a handsome dude,’ he would have said. ‘If only I could grow up to be as professional, skillful, beautiful, well-weathered, and manicured as him, well, I might have a career!’ You can quote me on that!”
Watch some clips from the show above.