Paul McCartney: Yoko Ono Did Not Cause Beatles Split

by Rolling Stone, Entertainment NBC News: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/29/14779868-paul-mccartney-yoko-ono-did-not-cause-beatles-split

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Yoko Ono, John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1968

Paul McCartney says that Yoko Ono isn't at fault for splitting the Beatles or tearing John Lennon away from the group in an upcoming TV interview with David Frost, the BBC reports.

"She certainly didn't break the group up," McCartney says, countering the commonly held belief that Ono caused the Beatles' dissolution.

"I don't think you can blame her for anything," McCartney says, adding that Lennon was "definitely going to leave."

McCartney also says Lennon wouldn't have written "Imagine" without the influence of Ono, a conceptual artist. "When Yoko came along, part of her attraction was her avant-garde side, her view of things," McCartney says. "She showed him another way to be, which was very attractive to him. So it was time for John to leave."

Paul McCartney, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" -- premiere

The interview will air on Al Jazeera English in November.