Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has accused The Sex Pistols’ John Lydon of instigating a racist attack on him at a Barcelona festival on Saturday night.

Okereke, a Liverpudlian of Nigerian descent, said he was left with severe facial bruising, cuts to his face and body and a split lip after he tried to speak to Lydon backstage at the Summercase Festival.

The singer said he approached Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten, to ask if he had any plans to reform his onetime band Public Image Ltd.

Okereke claimed The Sex Pistols frontman became “intimidating and aggressive”, while his entourage responded with a racist tirade including the statement, “your problem is your black attitude.”

He said three members of Lydon’s entourage then punched him in the face and head.

Okereke alleged that the three also attacked people who tried to protect him from the assault, including Yannis Philippakis from The Foals and Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs. The musicians have both confirmed an incident took place.

Festival security guards broke up the fight and the incident was reported to the Spanish police. The Bloc Party singer also contacted UK police when he returned from Spain.

Okereke, formerly a fan of Lyndon’s, said he was shocked by what he called an “unprovoked attack”.

"It's not an issue of the physical assault, even though it was an unprovoked attack, it is the fact that race was brought into the matter so readily.

“Someone as respected and as intelligent as Lydon should know better than to bring race into the equation, or socialise with and encourage those who hold such narrow-minded attitudes.

“I am disappointed that someone I held with such high regard turns out to be such a bigot."

But this afternoon Lydon called the allegation “lies” and “nonsense” and accused Okereke of jealousy.

In a rambling statement, the singer said:

"We are in the middle of a wonderful tour, after 30 years we are achieving a true unity in our audience. They are multi varied, all ages, all races, creeds and colours. When you are at a festival with bands who are jealous fools, lies and confusion usually follow. If they need publicity so badly this is the allegation universe they run into."

"I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening. After the show John Rotten and management remained behind to sign autographs, which we did for 4 solid hours without incident and had a great time talking to other Spanish bands, this seems to have sparked jealousy in certain bands."

But he went on to admit that there had been an incident: "The trouble was brought to us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security."

"Grow up and learn to be a true man."

"When you have achieved as much as I have, come back and talk to me.

"Its a shame that the wonderful world of the media is riddled with nonsense like this"

Lydon, who once declared himself the "antichrist", has a history of public spats. He has called Sir Elton John " a fat buffoon",Sir Cliff Richard “a joke” and last month reduced Welsh singer Duffy to tears when she approached him at the Mojo Awards.

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