Sean Ono Lennon opens up about Paul McCartney's "robotic" reaction to John Lennon's murder
20 February 2026, 14:38
Paul's daughter Stella McCartney also speaks up.
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The relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one of the most important in the history of popular music.
As the songwriting pair at the centre of The Beatles, their impact on 20th century culture is immeasurable.
- How The Beatles reacted to news of John Lennon's murder
- When John Lennon and Paul McCartney reconciled and nearly reformed The Beatles
- Listen to the Gold Radio 60s Live Playlist on Global Player, the official app of Gold
By the end of the 1960s it all ended in tears with the bad tempered break-up of The Beatles.
John and Paul would go from working together to making barbs at one another in song, with McCartney's 'Too Many People' going in one direction and Lennon's 'How Do You Sleep' being shot back.
But while they never formally reunited, John and Paul reconciled in the middle of the 1970s, and even seriously considered dropping in on an episode of Saturday Night Live together in 1976, before deciding against it.
Paul McCartney: Man on the Run - Official Trailer | Prime Video
Dreams of any future collaboration were destroyed forever when Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980.
McCartney was doorstepped by the media outside AIR Studios in London just one day after the assassination, and infamously referred to the killing as a "drag" in a near monotone.
The footage has been much pored over and McCartney's tone critiqued over the years.
Now, in new Macca documentary Man on the Run, Lennon's younger son Sean Ono Lennon has said that he understands Paul's response and never thought of it as being cold.
Paul McCartney's FULL reaction to John Lennon's death.
"I always notice the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice," Ono Lennon said, as quoted by Cover Media.
"Really felt like someone who was unable to process what was going on."
Sean added: "He just seemed almost robotic, which I think some people took possibly as coldness, but I never took it as that, 'cos I understood even then what it was like when something that terrible happens."
In the film, Paul's daughter Stella also revealed that she was there the moment Paul was told about John's killing.
"I remember that moment. I remember the phone ringing," she said.
"I remember some, the biggest reaction I'd ever seen and him leaving the kitchen and going outside. That was heartbreaking, like truly heartbreaking."
