Paul McCartney Was Furious at How Yoko Ono Talked About Him After John Lennon’s Death
In 1980, the world was shocked by the murder of John Lennon. His death shook the music industry, and his former bandmates were left reeling. After his death, there was an outpouring of celebration for the former Beatle, and he was lifted to a uniquely revered position in pop culture. His former bandmate, Paul McCartney, took a slight issue with this. While he mourned Lennon and acknowledged that his contributions to The Beatles were important, he didn’t appreciate people making him out to be a martyr. Even more than that, he was angry about some of Yoko Ono’s public statements after Lennon’s death.
The former Beatle died in 1980
On Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon and Ono were walking into their New York City apartment building when fan Mark David Chapman shot him four times at close range.
Ono recalled the last words she and her husband exchanged (via the Independent).
“I said, ‘Shall we go and have dinner before we go home?’ and John said, ‘No, let’s go home because I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep.'”
In the chaotic aftermath of the shooting, Lennon was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that night.
Paul McCartney didn’t appreciate the way Yoko Ono spoke about him after John Lennon’s death
Lennon’s death inspired fear and anger in the music community, and people across the world struggled to believe the news. His bandmates were particularly horrified by the news as they had been so close to Lennon for years. McCartney didn’t appreciate the way Lennon’s death shifted public understanding of The Beatles, however.
“When John got shot, aside from the pure horror of it, the lingering thing was, OK, well now John’s a martyr. A JFK,” he told Esquire in 2015. “So what happened was, I started to get frustrated because people started to say, ‘Well, he was The Beatles.’ And me, George and Ringo would go, ‘Er, hang on. It’s only a year ago we were all equal-ish.'”
Even more irksome to him was the way Ono spoke about him after Lennon’s death. As a way to lift Lennon up, she put McCartney down.
“But then strange things would happen,” he said. “Like Yoko would appear in the press, and I’d read it, and it said, ‘Paul did nothing! All he did was book the studio…’ Like, ‘F*** you, darling! Hang on! All I did was book the f***ing studio?’ Well, OK, now people know that’s not true. But that was just part of it. There was a lot of revisionism: John did this, John did that. I mean, if you just pull out all his great stuff and then stack it up against my not-so-great stuff, it’s an easy case to make.”
Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono are on better terms now
McCartney and Ono’s relationship could be contentious, but they’re far friendlier with each other these days. He realized that Lennon truly loved her, which made him push away the negative feelings he had toward her. Ono said she was glad Lennon and McCartney were friends, and that his derision never really hurt her.
“I never felt too bad about Paul,” she said, per IndyStar. “He was my husband’s partner and they did a great job and all that. They seemed to have a lot of fun, and I respected that.”
