John fueling rumors about his own sexuality (and trying to drag Paul along with him) throughout the 70’s
“P.S. The bit that really puzzled us was asking to meet WITHOUT LINDA AND YOKO. I know you’re camp! But let’s not go too far! I thought you’d have understood BY NOW, that I’m JOHNANDYOKO.”
— John Lennon’s letter to Paul McCartney, published in Melody Maker (November, 1971)
“Q. Have you ever fucked a guy?
A. Not yet, I thought I’d save it til I was 40, life begins at 40 you know, tho I never noticed it.
Q. It is trendy to be bisexual and you’re usually ‘keeping up with the Jones’, haven’t you ever... there was talk about you and PAUL...
A. Oh, I thought it was about me and Brian Epstein... anyway I’m saving all the juice for my own version of THE REAL FAB FOUR BEATLES STORY etc... etc…”
— John Lennon, “Interview with by/on John Lennon and/or Dr. Winston O’Boogie” for Interview Magazine (November, 1974)
“Q: Actually, there wasn’t that much press attention to the separation as one might have expected.
JOHN: Well I read more about myself than you probably do, and I’ll tell you there was. I mean, they would catalogue everyone you went around with, and things like, ‘Lennon In Florida Trip’… things like Rona Barrett wrote that Yoko was living with my ex-wife in a ‘strange relationship.’ She was putting that around... we got the clippings and everything. I mean that was dead wrong, because Yoko was definitely NOT living with my ex-wife in ‘a very feminist relationship!’ I see them all, because I've got a clipping service and I get all the newspapers, and you can bet your life somebody’s going to send you the clippings...
JOHN: Yes, all your best friends let you know what’s going on. I was trying to put it ‘round that I was gay, you know — I thought that would throw them off... dancing at all the gay clubs in Los Angeles, flirting with the boys... but it never got off the ground.
Q: I think I’ve only heard that lately about Paul.
JOHN: Oh, I’ve had him, he’s no good. (We laugh.)”
— John Lennon, interview w/ Lisa Robinson for Hit Parader: “A conversation with John Lennon” (December, 1975)
“The next night Elliot took us out with a friend of his, Sal Mineo, and we all went to a gay cabaret/discotheque. John was oblivious to the gay ambience. He was curious about everyone’s sexuality and liked to gossip about who was sleeping with whom, whether they were gay or straight. John made no judgements about homosexuality but was really curious about who was and who wasn’t gay.
He knew that his appearance at a gay club might start rumors about his own sexuality, and it made him laugh. He told me that there had been rumors about him and his first manager, Brian Epstein, and that he usually didn’t deny them. He liked the fact that people could be titillated by having suspicions about his masculinity. Then I was the one who was laughing. ‘How could anyone believe a man who likes women as much as you do is gay?’ I told him.”
— May Pang, “Loving John: The Untold Story” (1983)
“JOHN: Well, that’s rubbish, you know. Because nobody controls me. I’m uncontrollable. The only one that can control me is me, and that’s just barely possible. But that’s what life is about. And that’s the lesson I’m learning. Because — nobody ever said anything about Paul having a spell over me, when I was with him for a long time. Or me having a spell over Paul. They didn’t think that was abnormal, two guys together. Or four guys together. In those days? Why didn’t anybody ever say, ‘How come those guys don’t split up? I mean, what’s going on backstage? I mean, what is that Paul and John business? Why — you know, how can they be together so long?’ We spent more time together than John and Yoko, in the early days, the four of us sleeping in the same room, practically in the same bed, in the same truck... living together night and day, doing everything together. Nobody said a damn thing about being under the spell.
— John Lennon, interview w/ David Sheff for Playboy (August, 1980)
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