Paul McCartney Punched a Photographer on His 1st Major Outing Since John Lennon’s Death
After becoming famous in the early 1960s, Paul McCartney has likely met hundreds of photographers in his lifetime. He even married one — his first wife, Linda, started her career by photographing a party for the Rolling Stones. He didn’t get along with every photographer as well as he did with Linda, however. In his first major public outing since John Lennon’s death, McCartney hit a young photographer. He quickly apologized, however.
John Lennon died in 1980
In 1980, McCartney’s former Beatles bandmate was shot multiple times by a fan outside his apartment building in New York City. While responding officers rushed him to the hospital, attempts to revive him failed. The world mourned the loss, and McCartney had a hard time believing it.
“I can’t take it at the moment,” McCartney said the following day, per the book The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Breakup. “John was a great man who’ll be remembered for his unique contributions to art, music and peace. He is going to be missed by the whole world.”
Paul McCartney hit a photographer but quickly apologized
McCartney’s first major media appearance after Lennon’s death was on the BBC Radio Four program Desert Island Discs in early 1982. If he became stranded on a desert island and could only bring one record, he said he would bring Lennon’s 1980 recording of “Beautiful Boy.”
When McCartney arrived at BBC Studios, Daily Star photographer Paul Massey approached him to take his picture. The eighteen-year-old photographer was on his first assignment when McCartney punched him as he walked up. The Daily Star wrote that Massey was talking to the doorman when McCartney “suddenly cannoned his fist and body at our shocked photographer.” He quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry,” McCartney said, per The Globe and Mail. “I blew my top, mate.”
McCartney invited Massey to his studio room and apologized further. He hadn’t wanted Massey to photograph him and thought that hitting him was the only way to get him to stop.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” he said. “When I saw you standing there, I knew there was only one way to stop you taking pictures, and that was to lay into you.”
Paul McCartney previously had another run-in with a photographer
Amidst the rumors that McCartney died and was replaced by a body double, McCartney had another run-in with a photographer. A reporter and photographer arrived at his home to see if he was alive, and McCartney opened the door in a fury.
“He was absolutely red in the face with fury,” Spencer said, per the book Paul McCartney: A Life by Philip Norman. “He had one look at me and hurled the slop bucket. The irony was that I definitely got a shot of that. And he missed me, but then he stepped forward and hit me across the shoulder. Now, I’d covered six wars and never been hit by anything or anyone until Paul McCartney punched me. So I told Dorothy, ‘I think we’ve run out of our hospitality,’ and we turned around and left.”
When they left, however, McCartney chased them down in his car and apologized, offering an interview as long as they gave him the roll of film with the shot of him.
“It’s not a very nice picture of me,” he said. “You’ve just got that bucket flying through the air.”
