John Lennon — "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have got…"
I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this.
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time. * Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
English singer-songwriter, founding Beatle, and peace activist whose 'Imagine' (1971) became a 20th-century anti-war anthem; assassinated in NYC December 8, 1980.
Closely associated with
Paul McCartney (Beatles songwriting partner and lifelong foil) and George Harrison (fellow Beatle).
For an intellectual contrast, see
Richard Nixon, 37th US President — Nixon's 1972-73 administration tried to deport Lennon for his anti-Vietnam-War activism; declassified FBI files later confirmed the political motivation behind the immigration case. The canonical example of state retaliation against a celebrity activist.