Sean Lennon Defends Paul McCartney's 'Robotic' Reaction to John Lennon's Murder
Paul McCartney had a famously stoic reaction to John Lennon's death in 1980. Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon defends McCartney in the new documentary Man on the Run. McCartney's daughter Stella also reveals he did, in fact, have an emotional reaction to Lennon's death.
Just hours after John Lennon’s death, Paul McCartney was bombarded by reporters asking him for a reaction to losing his lifelong friend and bandmate.
The stunned McCartney, 83, famously offered a stoic response, nonchalantly telling the reporters, “[It’s a] drag, isn’t it?” in a clip that has been repeatedly analyzed by fans. Now, in a new documentary following McCartney’s life and career, Lennon’s son Sean Ono Lennon is opening up about why the singer’s reaction actually makes a lot of sense to him.
“I always notice the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice. Really felt like someone who was unable to process what was going on,” Sean says in the documentary Man on the Run (in theaters Thursday, Feb. 19 and Sunday, Feb. 22 only and out on Prime Video Feb. 27). “He just seemed almost robotic, which I think some people took possibly as coldness, but I never took it as that, ‘cause I understood even then what it was like when something that terrible happens.”
Lennon was 40 years old when he was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980.
In his interview with reporters, McCartney says he was “very shocked” to learn of his Beatle bandmate’s death, calling it “terrible news” and saying he was told in a phone call earlier that morning. He says he’s unsure whether he’ll go to the funeral, and leaves the interview by saying, “Okay, cheers.” In Man on the Run, Sean, 50, goes on to explain the bond that his father had with McCartney, and reveals that his dad often played the 1970 album McCartney on vinyl.
“When the Beatles broke up, he had to grow up, but in a way I feel like my dad passing was probably the real growing up moment,” he says. “They had a once-in-a-millennium chemistry that I don’t think we’re likely to see again.”
Paul McCartney in Paris in 1976.
McCartney’s daughter Stella is also interviewed in the film, and reveals that her dad actually did have an emotional reaction to hearing about Lennon’s death, despite what his interview suggested. “I remember that moment. I remember the phone ringing. I remember some, the biggest reaction I'd ever seen and him leaving the kitchen and going outside,” she says. “That was heartbreaking, like truly heartbreaking.”
Source: Rachel DeSantis/people.com
