# Why was John Lennon assassinated?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 30, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225 "2004-08-30T13:47:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/1 "2004-08-30T13:47:34Z")
Why was John Lennon assassinated? I came across an article online that has some great conspiracy theory involving the FBI and Ronald Regan. Seems far-fetched to me. What is the consensus on why he was shot? What reason did the shooter give?
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/2 "2004-08-30T13:49:03Z")
He was nuts.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/3 "2004-08-30T13:49:56Z")
He was nuts and he thought Jodi Foster would think he was wicked cool.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/4 "2004-08-30T13:50:29Z")
This is a Chris Rock skit come to life.
John Lennon wasn’t assassinated, he was shot by an obsessed nut.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/5 "2004-08-30T13:51:01Z")
Oh. Maybe that was the Reagan thing. Whatever. He’s still nuts.
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### Author:  [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/6 "2004-08-30T14:01:09Z")
Mark Chapman gave different several reasons over time as to why he did it (he changed his story several times, that is).
I remember jealousy being one. Also, he once said that he felt Lennon was a “phony”, that he could sing about class equality (“imagine no posessions”) and still live like a king in his suite at the Dakota.
Truth is, he was/is troubled, mentally unstable individual suffering from delusions of some sort (at the very least).
An obsession with jodie Foster is why John Hinckley shot President Regan.
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/7 "2004-08-30T14:06:42Z")
Chapman was mentally ill. From what I can grasp, Chapman was obsessed with the Beatles and thought Lennon was “selling out” his peace and love msg by living the good life in a multi-million dollar home. So he shot him to death.
Anyone looking for a conspiracy theory will find plenty of them running amouck. IMO, it’s nothing more complicated than a nutcase shooting an innocent person to death.
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### Author:  [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/8 "2004-08-30T14:07:17Z")
Oh, and the conspiracy theory is thus:
\
Mark Chapman was used as a remote assassin by the US Government using “Manchurian Candidate” style mind-control to kill Lennon because Lennon was resurrecting his career. The ‘men-in-black’ were afraid of Lennon becoming politically active as he had been in the late 60’s & early 70’s, because he had the power to influence a large majority of the population.
The FBI and CIA did keep a file on Lennon, and kept active surveillance on him that included tapping his phone, and physical watch on many of his day-to-day activities.
\
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/9 "2004-08-30T14:10:42Z")
I thought he shot Lennon to impress Ronald Reagan…
What?
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### Author:  [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/10 "2004-08-30T14:36:47Z")
What happened to Mark Chapman? Was he put to death? Is he still alive somewhere? What’s the deal with catcher in the rye? How does that figure into this whole thing? What part of the book’s story or message did Chapman think was telling him to kill John Lennon?
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/11 "2004-08-30T15:15:36Z")
> [@FlippyFly](#):
>
> What happened to Mark Chapman? Was he put to death? Is he still alive somewhere? What’s the deal with catcher in the rye? How does that figure into this whole thing? What part of the book’s story or message did Chapman think was telling him to kill John Lennon?
Chapman is still in prison, not sure if NY had the death penalty in 1990.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/12 "2004-08-30T15:16:42Z")
Sorry, forgot this link:
[http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/chapman/](http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/chapman/)
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/13 "2004-08-30T15:50:47Z")
Insert joke about Mark Chapman’s botched attempt on Yoko’s life.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/14 "2004-08-30T15:51:33Z")
“Isn’t it funny how one insect can damage so much grain?”
–Elton John & Bernie T on the murder
There was no reason why he was murdered. It was simply a crime.
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### Author:  [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/15 "2004-08-30T15:55:19Z")
There is a guy around here who maintains that Steven King is behind the killing of John Lennon. He has been spouting his story for years and secretly gets on talk radio to blurt out his theory. I have seen his van from time to time and it is plastered with his claims. It turns out that he now has a [website](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp).
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/16 "2004-08-30T16:03:55Z")
Chapman was put up to it by Yoko Ono so that she could [sell](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/25/1093246590997.html?from=storylhs&oneclick=true) John’s image to Nike.
She had to wait 20 years to remove suspicion.
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/17 "2004-08-30T17:24:56Z")
> [@Toddly](#):
>
> It turns out that he now has a [website](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp).
There’s not enough tin-foil in the world to make me wade through _that_ mess. Remind’s me of the killer’s diaries in _Se7en_.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/18 "2004-08-30T22:26:09Z")
Oh, but you have to read the [excerpts](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/skwritings.asp) from King’s writing where he’s confessing to the murder!!!
It’s so obvious!!
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/19 "2004-08-30T22:33:37Z")
Not long after the murder, some articles stated that the killer did it to become famous, himself. That’s when I decided I would **never put the killer’s name in print.** It’s up to you whether you choose to add to his “fame.”
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-john-lennon-assassinated/262225/20 "2004-08-30T23:25:04Z")
> [@picker](#):
>
> I thought he shot Lennon to impress Ronald Reagan…
No, Stalin.
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