i often wonder how the narrative that john and paul never liked each other (or one didn’t like the other) was possibly conceived. these boys literally grew up together, collaborated for so many years, shared so much of their lives with the other … so they must have at least liked the other if you really don’t want to admit the feeling was more deep and nuanced … how the hell can someone think and spread such a stupid narrative?
I think it just comes down to the break up to be honest. It is weird, because I don't think either of them really said that they'd never liked each other. I guess John said that the Beatles was a myth. But I think he meant the idea of The Beatles, not the real people and their relationships. The narrative the Beatles themselves put out was just, "We had to move on and get married. It'd be super weird (and gay) if we didn't". Which is bonkers, but very much not, "Thank god that's over, I hated those dickheads".
I mean, John did say that he didn't like Paul currently. As in that one story where the journalist remembers him calling Paul a cunt or his tarot reader saying John (not very convincingly) says he didn't care about him. But, I don't think he said he never liked him. Although, I guess he did suggest that their relationship wasn't what he'd thought.
We were talking on another ask about this and I think it is partly a projection thing. Boomer men didn't (don't?) seem to like Paul and they just project that onto John. Perhaps a mix of jealousy and wanting John to date (platonically) them.
We do see that very much still happening to be fair, there's this strange John V Paul thing since the break up. You pick your fave and that means you have to put down the one you don't like best. Which, again, gets projected onto your fave. Like, 'Paul didn't like John as much as John liked him' or the other way around. It literally doesn't have any basis in reality that I can see. But it does seem to be a human thing that we feel the need to pick.