LET IT BE

Paul McCartney Says John Lennon Broke Up the Beatles, Not Him

The legendary rocker, who has long been blamed for the band’s breakup, set the record straight in an interview set to be broadcast later this month.

Paul McCartney says it was John Lennon, not him, who instigated the break up of the Beatles more than 50 years ago, according to a new interview to be broadcast ahead of a controversial biopic of the group’s last years together. McCartney has long been blamed for the split, but in an excerpt of the interview reported by the Guardian, he sets the record straight. “I didn’t instigate the split,” he says. “That was our Johnny.” Instead he says he wanted the group to continue since they were still creating “pretty good stuff.” He says if Lennon had not left the band, they could have continued indefinitely. During the interview, he was asked why he decided to go solo. “Stop right there,” McCartney says, according to the Guardian. “I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?”