The Murder of John Lennon | Today Show | Tom Brokaw & Jane Pauley (Dec. 9, 1980)

John Lennon was assassinated on Monday, December 8, 1980 at 10:50 PM ET. The following morning NBC covered the aftermath just hours after his death. Guests include Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone Magazine, Barbara Graustark of Newsweek and Laurie Kaye of RKO Radio. Jane Pauley also shares her thoughts on Lennon's music along with her own personal record collection. This is an edited down version of the original broadcast which aired live on NBC Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1980.
* WATCH FULL EPISODE: • NBC Network - The Toda...
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* SEGMENT: Remembering John Lennon
* PROGRAM: The Today Show
* NETWORK: NBC
* ANCHOR: Tom Brokaw
* CO-HOST: Jane Pauley
* GUESTS: Dave Marsh (Rolling Stone), Barbara Graustark (Newsweek), Laurie Kaye (RKO Radio)
* AIR DATE: December 9, 1980

[@michaellaverty1844]

I was 26 and a long time Beatles fan. I was working the midnight shift and as soon as I walked in the door I was hit with the news of Johns murder. I just wanted to go home. When I arrived home I turned on the news and was up for most of the day. Now he’s been dead longer than he was alive. Now and Then is a present day gift.

[@JuanLopez-ef5pr]

I was also 26...stationed in Bamberg,Germany (Army)...Apparently I didn't slept well that night...I had a duty to perform next morning( I lived off post...with my first wife and son)... Came to the building feeling strange and sleepy...had some coffee and lean my head to the front table( where I was going to be all day answering the telephone etc...).. Sargent Davis( I remember his name because of this)...walked in...said goodmorning and as he walked into the office he said" have you heard the news J.Lennon was killed last night in N.Y....My head went straight up...I couldn't handle it. I went to one of the rooms where some of my colleagues were still sleeping...put on one the headphones and the end of Imagine was playing...etc..etc... I got an article 15 ( which is a punishment for misbehavior)...I was never the same again. It was the first time in my life..as an adult...that I remember crying. Long live John and The Beatles !

[@dalebonifant4855]

I was a midnight shift security guard, at a friend's watching the Game, and had to go to work. A lot of people asked Me if I had heard the news. On lunch break, I was in my car and some station was playing The Beatles Story (Capitol), which I'd not heard in many years....being away from other people, I let it out, and started banging on the steering wheel. Seems long ago when you see the date written, but not so long ago in emotions.

[@robertcuratolo5339]

I was watching MNF and of all people Howard Cosell broke the news.

[@forapps9364]

I was 15, and I remember my parents had a tv on a roll-a-way cart in the dining room, with the 5 o'clock news on. A reporter was talking about Julian Lennon traveling by himself to America for his father's funeral. After watching a short clip of Julian walking by himself, my father said I can't believe that kid has to go through this without anybody by his side. (He was worried for his safety too.) Then, a few months later, I came home from school and found my mother in the kitchen with that same little tv on the roll-a-way cart, watching the news. She had come home early from work because she was sure I would be sent home because Reagan was shot. What a horrible year.

[@rozalina531]

🙏🏻 🙏🏻 🙏🏻

[@zitabraun1176]

I couldn't stop crying the next day at work. My boss didn't know what to do with me. He felt so bad for me. It took me years before I could listen to Lennons music without crying. He was never my "favorite " Beatle but who could have ever thought a tragedy like this would happen to any of them. Then what happened to George. It's a sad world.

[@babywah3290]

I think it was Tom Petty who recalled stopping work in the studio when the news came out and saying that on the way home were people crying on their steering wheels at stop lights. Lennon once joked that he might be “popped off by a loony” in his early Beatle days. His availability to people and no bodyguards and all it took was one psychopath.

[@h2ofield]

And here we are 43 years later tearing up over the loss.

[@letisia1908]

I was 5 years old. It's strange that I remember this day. We were all watching TV, I realized someone was dead and asked "Who died ?" There were pictures of the Beatles passing by and my mum said "That's the one with the glasses" Who would have thought that "The one with the glasses" would become my hero 7 years later, for the rest of my life. I love you John. Rest in peace 🕊️

[@thelegendinhisownmind7038]

I still grieve every year over the death of this man. Time marches on and we will still remember. R.I.P John...You will always be with us.

[@cecilybumtrinket1986]

I was 10 at the time, and knew every word of every Beatles + Lennon's solo songs. I was getting ready for school and my dad called me into my parents' bedroom, where he had the news playing. I was DEVASTATED and insisted on wearing all black that day 🖤

[@WhiteHartDane]

I was 12 back then and remember vividly a clearly shaken teacher saying to me "They've shot John Lennon". He must just've heard the news then. I knew the name but don't think I knew exactly who he was, but I think I found out immediately after, and my affinity with the Beatles started right there. To this day I feel a profound sadness on 8th December.

[@user-et2fj8xm5l]

I was 8 when this occurred. I really didn’t understand or really know who John Lennon was. However when I was 17 I absolutely fell in love with the Beatles and anything peripheral. To say I became a “fan” is a serious understatement. The world needs people like John Lennon…

[@pedroparamo7351]

I was 6 back in 1980. I remember nothing. But 1980 was a sad year overall. That i remember.

[@user-et2fj8xm5l]

@@pedroparamo7351 Sorry to hear that Pedro. 1980 changed my life forever and it wasn’t because of John Lennon. Your still here and that’s what matters…

[@jun6174]

Same. I knew of the Beatles and guess I kind of liked them but it was the fifth anniversary in 1985 when local radio had a weekend Beatles marathon that I dived into their catalog and became a lifelong fan.

[@pedroparamo7351]

Well, I...just had turned 6 when John died, but i don't remember this sad event. Not a word. But i do remember John's "Woman" from 1981, this song was played over and over in this year and i loved it. I still do. This, and Paul's "Ebony and ivory" from 1982, some happy musical memories to me.

[@nikkibest5010]

I was 8 years old as well. I knew who Lennon was because my dad was a huge Beatles fan and I have since become one myself. My dad was devastated by Lennon's death so it was a big deal in my family and childhood 😢

[@kimberly3131]

Such a sad remembrance. One of those where were you when you heard the news, markers in many people's lives. For many of us, it was a deep personal grief, that we shared with so many, many others. We talked about him and his music and our shock and grief to friends, acquaintances and even strangers. We still do! I still get emotional and weepy at times when one of his or a Beatles song strikes me. I even get emotional watching the reactions of people not familiar with their mudic, on KZbin. But what joy they have given us and what a treasure chest of music and memories!

[@f.frederickskitty2910]

I was 13 when John Lennon died. I remember I was in 8th grade in the library in junior high school when I heard the news. My dad mourned for a long time after his death.

[@majestikmoose9]

I was born a full seven years after this. As a huge lifelong Beatles fan, I still feel the grief of losing John even though he was gone before I even existed. What an incredible soul.

[@jchow5966]

☮️💟☮️💟

[@tomhouk6587]

I was in LA doing acid on the beach in celebration of Jim Morrison .When I got home Monday night football was on and I heard the horrible news! I was so stunned. Talk about a bummer trip, WOW . I loved the Beatles since 64. I'll never forget that night. John was going to come out again with a possible tour. Unbelievable!😢😢

[@tomf429]

Like many people, I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had been shot. Later, he announced that Lennon was dead. It was one of those moments that you never forget. Same with JFK assassination.

[@essexboy5520]

As for me....I was dozing in bed before school as a 15 year old boy when bbc radio 1 broke the news at about john....being murdered, being a massive Beatles fan (just me and a few school mates at the time) I bolted out of bed in total shock, and it's still hurting to this day. RIP Mr Lennon. You have been an incredible influence on my whole life.

[@keithbertschin1213]

Interesting you say ‘a few mates’. At high school in early 80s I was literally the only person into the Beatles. My friends did after being exposed to them by me. It’s hard to explain to people now when there is such an interest in the Beatles

[@essexboy5520]

@@keithbertschin1213 Hello, I think in 1980 and through out the 70s The Beatles hadn't long split up and were seen as a bit unfashionable. Like you it was me banging on to my mates how cool this 60s band was. When I went into school on that fateful morning I had some of the ignorant kids giving me shit....you been crying etc.....14 years later Oasis come along it's all cool again. In our world they always were.

[@keithbertschin1213]

@@essexboy5520 yeah by the 90s they were getting the love they deserved (Nirvana, Oasis, Kula Shaker etc). I agree, it almost seemed that because they were just so huge in their time they suffered the opposite from that teen generation that came after the 60s. I was 10, never heard of John because he’d been so quiet. Knew Paul McCartney more than Beatles as he was so active in late 70s. The BBC showed Help that night and I was just hooked. Parents bought me 8 album Beatle Box for Christmas. Just so exciting on the back of such tragedy

[@essexboy5520]

@@keithbertschin1213 I think we might well have been good mates Keith.

[@keithbertschin1213]

@@essexboy5520 100%, missionary work can be lonely!

[@timmckeown1313]

I remember watching this that morning. I was 22 years old. Stunned, shocked, dazed.

[@polytheneprentiss1534]

Even though so much time has passed, it’s still so emotional. And watching this program and seeing the tears in the lady’s eyes just brings it home.

[@Vandermin011]

I remember it was the morning of the 9th, I was 13 and getting ready for school when my mom told me that one of the Beatles had been shot. I was in disbelief. The TV was on, and that’s when I heard for myself. A friend at school had turned me on to the music of The Beatles months before. She was already a huge fan of John Lennon. I had gotten to school late, and with class already under way, there was no time to talk. As I passed her desk, I placed my hand on her shoulder. We made eye contact, and I could just see the shock. What a sad day.

[@robertsaul234]

Jane Pauly was really struggling here and I don't blame her. I believe the show ended with the Imagine video and she started bawling.

[@Mikepleith]

As upset as she was she was very clear - I like that she said “I didn’t but him on a pedestal but I did his music”. To me she was saying he was a complicated public person who wasn’t for everyone. I also like that she said - Pepper was number one after she was trying to be diplomatic with Pet Sounds. Very honest.

[@deniseg812]

Rubber Soul, was a real turning point. That's my favorite.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

Mine too.

[@cecilybumtrinket1986]

Agreed. Norwegian Wood still blows my mind 🥰

[@garyhunt8067]

I was ten when he was gunned down. At first I had never heard of John Lennon. Heard of the Beatles, but didn't know that he was in the band. I didn't know Paul McCartney was in the band. Now, I'm 53, I have beginning to play their CDs and both their solo recordings. 😢😢😢

[@joe6096]

You can see how difficult it was for Jane to keep it together. Especially when looking at her Sgt. Peppers album.

[@doryannedemille3961]

I was devastated when he was shot, I was on the phone with a friend that night for a long time grieving and reminiscing. A horrible event. 😢

[@TimRobinson-kd3zn]

I was 18 when this happened I was and still am a Beatles/Lennon fan always loved his music his humor still 43 years later it still hursts he is gone

[@poohjan]

Yes! I’m 30, and i recently got back into the Beatles about a week, or so ago. Coincidentally, the anniversary of Lennon’s assassination was also yesterday. I sat in the car thinking how those events unfolded that fateful night, it’s crazy, but the pain and grief still wash over you and it hits heavy. I wish John was still here today.

[@farrellmcnulty909]

1:50 - "Wasn't the 70s a drag?"😅😅😅 I love the interviews he did on the 6th and 8th of December. I've heard them both on countless occasions.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

My gosh this brings back memories. I was 19 years old at the time. I was in so much shock.

[@papercup2517]

Now and then, I miss you... I first saw John, with George, in a crowded and very straight-laced hotel dining room in Edinburgh, Scotland in the summer of 1962. I was just turning 10 years old and the Beatles, unknown to any of us, were on the brink of stardom. My father clicked his tongue and muttered 'Louts!' under his breath while my mother ordered me not to stare. ...But of course, 'I just had to look'. I didn't know who or what these two young men were but they had an irresistible atmosphere about them, an electrical charge. Perhaps a faint whiff of mysterious, intoxicating things, like coffee bars and rock'n'roll...things I only vaguely knew of, forbidden joys. George was hungry, pacing through the restaurant, looking like a beatnik in skinny black jeans and his brushed forward hair, eyes scanning the room, searching for an empty table; John (whose hair seemed less certain whether it meant to go forward like George's or back in a standard teddy-boy quiff), was making all the hotel staff rock with laughter at some evidently naughty story he was telling them. At the first gale of laughter, he mock-ducked, gleefully smirking, as if anticipating a swift cuff to the ear for his cheek. Then in he went again, apparently with some killer follow-up line, which had them all laughing and scolding him again as they dispersed, back to their duties. Eventually the two lads, calling loudly to each other across the hushed room in their strange, coarse Liverpool accents discovered the main bar was now open, and that George could order his lunch there, and they were gone. I saw them a couple of years later on stage, as I sat in the audience amongst several hundred screaming fans, but those precious moments in a dining-room, pre-fame and fortune, shocking and amusing the locals simultaneously, is how I'll always remember John Lennon, and George Harrison, best.. "Think of me now and then, my old friend." [John's last words to Paul, in person] Remembering John and George, always.

[@ryans1623]

Sad times!

[@noelroberts8199]

Why did someone who believed in Peace have such a violent death? R.I.P. John.....

[@barnabasthecat7329]

Seems to be the way here. He said things in song through the Beatles that you felt. That seems to be rare here.

[@user-db6pt7vr3l]

He punched his ex-wife in the mouth and constantly made fun of disabled people. So he wasn't that peaceful.

[@babywah3290]

It’s happened to many leaders and they all have one thing in common- being in America. God bless the USA and convenience to guns.

[@user-db6pt7vr3l]

@@babywah3290 Richest and freest country in the world. With millions lined up to come here legally and illegally.

[@babywah3290]

@@user-db6pt7vr3l illegals have been coming here since 1492.

[@hildebrandjansen5170]

If ever there was such a thing as a time machine, I would have definitely stopped Chapman from pulling the trigger. Such a shame that a man that always sang about Love & Peace would leave us the way he did.

[@RPMac]

The day before my 30th birthday....so so sad .

[@bobthebear1246]

It's now just over 43 years later and I still can't believe this happened. 😢 Also, at 4:50, I didn't know that Mr Rogers worked a stint as an on-air radio producer in London. Cool.

[@RobynHurley-zp9sh]

I was 13 and my mom and i cried when i came home un front of the tv

[@susanfeldman-rm7ht]

I was at a Babies concert they ended their show immediately out of respect to John and his family Everyone at the concert cried 😢

[@jchow5966]

I was a 16 year old girl qho had pictures of him and The Beatles all over my bedroom eall when he died. John Lennon eas so poditive and he still inspires ne. I am so glad that i was alive when he was - he was amazing. ☮️💟

[@davidlynds9483]

I was 15 when he died but don't recall hearing the news. Teenage me was more devastated that year by the deaths of AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott and Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. But over the years I've come to appreciate and admire the Beatles and mourn the senseless murder of John Lennon. I whole heartedly believe John and Paul would have worked together again if not a full fledged reunion of the band for an album or event and we can only wonder about what might have been.

[@melissacooper8724]

I was only a year old when John Lennon was killed. I didn't really know about it until I was old enough to understand. My sister was 9 at the time. She told me she was angry at the man who killed him. I don't remember how my parents reacted that day. Most likely, they were shocked like everyone else.

[@bobma6342]

I was 16 and a junior in high school. It was a school night and I was in the bathroom getting ready to brush my teeth. I clicked on the radio and I heard the announcer say in mid-sentence, "...ennon shot and killed in New York City." I remember thinking, "Ennon? Who is Ennon?" Then as he kept talking I found out who it was. I turned on the Monday Night Football game and Howard Cosell confirmed it.

[@MrAschiff]

Pauley has such a sweet voice.

[@jackjohnson7396]

So long ago remember like it was yesterday. Sad day for many of us since we grew up with Lennon.

[@jamesm.3967]

I was listening to The White Album the night he was shot…Yer Blues specifically. A sad coincidence.

[@keithbertschin1213]

It’s just the most awful thing that most of the time us Beatle fans just keep very much in the background. Every so often you pull up sharp and think, that actually happened

[@gazza1196]

Was in Liverpool that week on a job..amazing reaction there..Beatles best band ever.Made in Liverpool England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ❤

[@bluedragon4]

I was 6 years old. I had no clue who he was or the beatles at the time but I remember my cousins aunt crying and that's my first introduction to him.

[@DippyHippie]

I loved him!

[@jun6174]

Brokaw was off his game. Looking at the wrong camera, saying four people are joining them then introducing three, saying RODEO instead of RADIO. Weird start.

[@Newfoundmike]

Jane looks genuinely saddened

[@cjmacq-vg8um]

what ever happened to that 2nd lady in the three person panel that opened the segment? she just kinda disappeared. i beg to differ with miss paulie. the "white album" is THE best r&r album ever produced. but "sgt pepper's..." was considered a remarkable achievement when released. the problem is the beatles just kept getting better and more creative with every release. "revolver," "rubber soul," "abbey road" and even "with the beatles, "help" and "a hard day's night" are all exceptional albums. but the "white album" just can't be surpassed. out of context quotes aren't much to go by when judging attitudes. people will often say one thing and a month or 10 years later say just the opposite. believe me, lennon NEVER betrayed is "radical" social positions. he remained loyal to his dedication to human rights despite anything he might've said in some random interview. miss you john and george.

[@WhenImBackInChicago]

Barbara Graustark is currently the art editor for The New York Times, and Laurie Kaye began her career in radio at KFRC-AM San Francisco, for years one of the nation' s greatest top-40 stations, where she started as an intern, and worked her way up to on-air reporter, and anchor. She wrote, and co-produced numerous radio rock specials for RKO, including RKO Presents the Beatles (later expanded, and retitled as The Beatles from Liverpool to Legend), and The Top 100 of the 70' s before moving on to write Dick Clark's weekly-radio countdown show, and syndicated newspaper column. Kaye then moved on to television, and film as a writer, producer, and casting director, where she still works today, handling both creative content, and line producing for docuseries pilots.

[@cjmacq-vg8um]

@@WhenImBackInChicago... thanks for the info. but i don't mean what happened to her after this aired. i mean she disappeared during the video. she was introduced at the beginning of the segment and never heard from again.

[@WhenImBackInChicago]

@@cjmacq-vg8um 👍. I understand. 🎄. Merry Christmas, to you! ☃️ 🕯. ~ For, John Lennon.

[@cjmacq-vg8um]

@@WhenImBackInChicago... well, not to burst your bubble my friend but my christmas will be just a continuatuion of my 14 year long nightmare. i'm very ill and denied medical care although i have full coverage from medicare and medicaid. even so-called "emergency rooms" deny me medical care. all i ever hear is the word "NO" and "go complain somewhere else." i'm not choosing you, specifically, to tell this to. i've posted this info all over youtube for months. even notifying the news media. yet my misery continues.

[@WhenImBackInChicago]

@@cjmacq-vg8um ❤️‍🩹. Next, contact your local mental-health care providers, that work with Medicaid. Do this tomorrow, bright, and early! Anyone in the psychology field will most certainly listen, and locate the help, or specialists you need, asap. ❤️‍🩹 I'm 55-yrs.-of-age, and an athletic, stage-4 cancer survivor, on Medicaid ...received 100% of my care from our government aid. I was diagnosed in 2017, and given an all-clear by 2020, officially 2021. Can't believe I'm alive. My mate, of 16 years, passed of Covid, in Nov., 2021. He was only 59, and healthy. I did not expect to still be here. My life is, still, very sad without him. Knew him since I was 16 yrs. old, however, didn't date until 2006. I know how you feel. You're in America, right? There's an ex-Milwaukee newscaster named Katrina Cravy (I just looked-up her Instagram page.) that specialized in cases like yours. Contact her, via her website address, and she could very likely lead you to someone, in your state. She's been active, for decades, and gets things done! Don't give up.

[@jchow5966]

☮️💟☮️💟☮️💟☮️💟 i still miss him.

[@aylinguluzade5962]

Laurie Kaye just had a picture of herself with John less than 24 hours before this broadcast

[@jorgejohnson451]

A selfie?

[@bettyleeist]

I was very confused when this happened.I was twenty year’s old at the time.I said;who was John Lennon?Not knowing who this person was.Then,after it became;”more clear’to me,I said;Oh,that’s who it was!I deceided then,to get every book on the Beatles that I could find.The book;Shout!The Beatle’s in their generation was a good book,by;Phillip Norman,printed in 1981,a year after John Lennon’s death.His music 🎵 will live on,I know!Last year,I saw the bed-in for peace ☮️ that he did with Yoko Ono(whom he met in London,England in November of 1966,at the Indiga art gallery).I really enjoyed this film,too!

[@poohjan]

How come that POS that murdered him (I will not utter that filths name) gets a parole hearing when he basically affected the entire world by taking Lennons life in such a brutal way. He shot him 4 times. He didn’t even give the guy a chance. His wife was robbed of a husband, his children a father, his friends a brother, and to the rest of the world one of the greatest musicians who would have no doubt, released more music and been an advocate for peace during times such as these.

[@yournamehere6002]

affected

[@chuckselvage3157]

He was declared insane that's why. Yes it's no excuse but once you are insane you don't get real jail time same with Peter Sutcliffe the Yorkshire Ripper he went to mental asylum.

[@Therejectionartist]

He will never see the light of day unless he is cancer-ridden and paralysed. It wouldn’t be safe for him anyway, no doubt he’d need to be given plastic surgery and a new identity. So better if he is left where he is, to keep rotting. What he did was unforgiveable, I don’t care what anyone says. And the way he did it, hanging around, talking to Lennon’s son, getting an autograph and then shooting him in the back. Atrocious excuse for a human being.

[@marktait2743]

His wife is still with him after all these years....she also knew mark went to New York a few weeks before to kill Lennon before he aborted mission due to not being able to purchase bullets. Even with this knowledge she then drove him to the airport to make another trip to New York....very suspect if you ask me

[@knockedoutloaded279]

Laurie Kaye was v suspicious of Chapman,,,,terrible day,,,,,

[@painter8237]

Yea I think I remember reading something about that somewhere. Because she was there when he got the autograph.

[@greggsheaffer2521]

RIP

[@user-ue8qg4fk2c]

i remeber that night watching MNF😭😭😭💔💔💔💔

[@a5dr3]

Why is Jane so happy

[@tenbroeck1958]

I was nine years old and remember these new reports. Such a sad moment. I believe they interrupted prime time Football, if I recall correctly. My friends' parents were all Beatle generation/Vietnam generation, and it hit them pretty hard. The symbolic end of the Love Generation and the official beginning of the Yuppie, BMW, women with tight round perms, giant glasses and huge should pads, etc. other rotten shite. I grew my hair long a few years latter, and I looked a lot like John Lennon - almost eerily. I was a little "Metalhead", and wanted to look like that, but I Lennon was closer to my true self, actually. RIP

[@christophermorgan3261]

What the Beatles buried was the clean cut big band music of Tommy Dorsey, our parents generation (see Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation. Sex, drugs, rock and roll and long haired hippies took over for a while. Now we are back to clean cut musicians, but the music has not improved. Who knows where the time goes, I forget who wrote and sang that great song.

[@buggy123roberson]

The look of sadness on Jane's face was the same one the whole world was wearing 43 years ago.

[@Newfoundmike]

I was going out the door on my way to work and It came on the radio. I got lite headed fell back on the couch and laid there all day waiting for them to say that it wasn't True

[@patricias5122]

Jane Pauley is much better today, here she really seems like she deserved the airhead label many gave her....she's babbling and giggling about the Sgt. Pepper album, after the horrific news of Lennon's death.

[@tommyriam8320]

She was at least still cute..it would only be a matter of a couple years before her transformation to old hag began in earnest.

[@jodyenglish6475]

I find it odd how humans spoke and acted just 40 years ago...

[@arthuridis]

Yeah....NORMAL, CIVILIZED, ELOQUENT AND COHERENT.

[@rbrookswilliams1689]

Gene Shalit says, "Let's read some of the singles offa here."..............There were no singles from SGT. PEPPER, Gene.

[@Tawny6702]

I remember it like yesterday, I even remember the interview mentioned with BBC radio one DJ/reporter Andy Peebles in which I heard John being so enthusiastic about the future and how he had reached a point of contentment and happiness with Yoko and with his life in general! Tragically a few days later….it was all gone, and just for few moments America hung its head in shame…..”it could only happen here” as some said!

[@JoeGator23]

Yoko got him shot... she used to drag him out in front of his apartment building to sign autographs and show him off in front of fans. His killer even got an autograph from him there- and stalked him in the open. She was dumb and he should have known better. A very sad day in music history... and she caused it all.

[@davidlee2490]

Just still don't understand it.

[@toddm9501]

You could see Jane losing it. I can relate. I'm a 58 year old Republican. But, Great People are Great People.

[@debbiemcnamara7059]

I was 28 when he died. I saw the Beatles in concert when I was 14. I hate The person who did this.

[@lianecornils6603]

Men aren’t hard to figure out once you know the typecast.

[@robertferguson5562]

It did bother me at all

[@Newfoundmike]

Music critics don't have a clue what is good or bad !!

[@Joe-ve8yw]

9:23 the murderers name should never be spoken again

[@wolves1980]

Let's hope someone gets him in jail

[@QueenofNonSequitur]

I was caught up in all of this. Heard it on the NFL game. Got the Double Fantasy LP, cried & cried. Later on, hearing things, hearing an old Paul McCartney interview, i realized what an asshole Lennon was.

[@davidaustrian9455]

If John Lennon was alive today he would be pleading for a ceasefire in Gaza. He was an outstanding musician and a humanitarian.

[@donbracewell9752]

I was watching the football game,

[@keithbertschin1213]

That first contributor saying he always wanted to go before Yoko! What a silly thing to say when he was 40!

[@michaelmcdermott9008]

Jane Paully seems to be more of a Paul fan than

[@jamesm.3967]

Pauley.

[@michaelmcdermott9008]

Autocorrect

[@robertsaul234]

They didn't play the full segment. She was crying her eyes out by the end.

[@steveconn]

"Then the dinosaurs died, then John Lennon was shot." - Mick Jagger, Rolling Stone interview, 1995. John was washed-up musically by then too. RIP

[@jorgejohnson451]

Who’s more annoying: Jane Pauley or Tom Brokaw? Gosh they were awful at this point.

[@alexyamach3635]

Jane Pauley was annoying, smiling through the entire show.

[@094340]

Some pretty bizarre comments from both Brokaw and Pauley, especially immediately following John's murder. Her strange comments about not putting him "personally on a pedestal", were unnecessary and distasteful, she didn't need to go there at all. I realize that not everyone reacts the same to tragic death, and that as "journalists" they need to keep their composure. But I didn't see very much in the way of grief from either one of them. The 2 people they initially interviewed were far more normal in their reactions, especially the woman, who I felt really understood and felt the gravity of the situation. At one point I think she was as annoyed with Pauley's line of questioning as I was. As an aside, it's clear that Jane Pauley should not be a music critic.

[@painter8237]

I wouldn’t say her comment was distasteful. I find it refreshing that she chose to humanize him rather than hold him up as an idol. She acknowledged that his gift of music had tremendous sentimentality to her, and it’s clear that she’s struggling to remain on point without her grief getting the better of her. The other woman was interviewing him less than 24 hours earlier, so her apparent shock is much more felt because she was literally just with him.

[@094340]

@@painter8237 Wow, you're reading way too much into her "grief", of which I detected very little. How is it that someone who is struggling with grief manages to smile so much, and make such casual and inappropriate comments on the heels of a tremendous tragedy? John Lennon didn't need to be "humanized" by anyone, let alone some wet behind the ears journalist, he established his humanity well before then. I'm not talking about "idolizing" him, I'm saying that there was no reason for her to go there, none whatsoever, especially considering the circumstances.

[@robertsaul234]

@@094340 If they had played the entire segment, she was bawling her eyes out by the end. Tom Brokaw was lost about what he could do.

[@094340]

@@robertsaul234 Oh really? I hadn't known that. If true, and I see reason for you to lie, then I would never have seen that coming, solely based on what preceded it. Thanks, that information puts them both in a better light for me.

[@Taylor.Dude.]

It was an elaborate suicide.

[@arthuridis]

How? Would you like to explain your theory?

[@michaellaverty1844]

Only in America!

[@curtgottler9961]

Never did like Jane Pauley.

[@CluelessSheepNazi4270]

Confirmed C.I.A. operation

[@jefpell]

Absolutely. Chapman was on the CIA payroll as a trained assassin.

[@cecilybumtrinket1986]

your name says it all - bet you're a real blast at rallies.

[@CluelessSheepNazi4270]

@@cecilybumtrinket1986 .....you could say that to be the case.

[@tt-du6vc]

America fuck yeah!

[@maremaid15]

So many years later, it’s still unbelievable. I was up and I saw the news scroll across the TV and was in complete shock. I was thinking that they made a mistake, and that he couldn’t be dead. I had trouble sleeping and when I woke up, I remembered and I thought “oh that, that’s not true” but of course it was I always was a huge Beatles fan. Still am and still can’t believe it.