JOE HAGAN: Well, part of the story that I’m writing is that because of the creation of this magazine [Rolling Stone], a lot of power accrued to him [Jann Wenner]. And the way he wielded the power is meaningful—why he would do certain things and what’s behind it. Sometimes it’s just caprice. Sometimes he’s a genuine partisan. He’s like, “Yoko is my friend, and I’m going to collaborate with her to make John a mythic character.” They became friends right after he died, and it was very instant. PAUL McCARTNEY: And you see, there are all sorts of weird things that I talk to my private circle about. In talking to you about them, we do have to remember Yoko is still alive. JOE HAGAN: Yes, I interviewed her. She’s pretty kooky. PAUL McCARTNEY: She’s an artist. She’s kooky. But John loved her, and that’s the bottom line. You really can’t go beyond that, no matter what you might think. Not my type, but I swear she rang me shortly after John died and said, “You know, I think John might have been gay.” I went, “I’m not sure.” I said, “I don’t think so. Certainly not when I knew him.” [Ono made a similar claim to Jann Wenner, as reported in Sticky Fingers. She made the claim again in 2015, the year of our interview.] Because we’d been in the ’60s. We’d been around with loads and loads of girls. And I bumped into seeing him jacking…a lot of girl action. And I’d slept with John very often, but there was never anything. There was never a gesture, never an expression. It was nothing. So I had no reason to believe this at all. But there were rumors because Brian Epstein—John went with Brian [to Spain in 1963]. But I saw that as a power play, which was very John. Brian would ask him as a homosexual thing—a good-looking boy who Brian fancied. They went down to Spain, had a fun time. No doubt John would play into the thing. I personally didn’t think anything had happened. Certainly never heard about anything happening. But I saw it as: “You want to deal with the Beatles? I’m the leader.” John was very political. John, remember, had read the complete works of Winston Churchill. They had them at his house. He was a big Churchill fan. In fact, he’s named John Winston Lennon. So John was very political that way. He wouldn’t voice it, but he would play it. So anyway, that’s what I say about Yoko being sort of kooky. And I actually said that to a friend of mine, Robert Fraser, who was gay, and he got very annoyed. “Why would anyone say that? Maybe a year after he’s dead, maybe. But people say crazy things.” JOE HAGAN: Maybe she was just under emotional duress. PAUL McCARTNEY: I know. When I lost Linda, I said some pretty crazy things. I look back on them now and go, “That’s grief. That’s just what you do.” You’re dealing with it. JOE HAGAN: And the irony is her next boyfriend was a gay man, Sam Havadtoy. PAUL McCARTNEY: Yeah. And then we had to deal with Sam. Everything we wanted—I’d nearly have Yoko agreeing to something, then Sam would get hold of it, the decision would be reversed.
Paul McCartney in a March 2015 conversation with Joe Hagan for his book Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine (2017), first published in Vanity Fair in February 2026. Source: x
