# Why was Julian Lennon left out of John Lennon's will? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308 "2016-01-26T22:03:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/41 "2016-01-29T17:16:24Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Seems ironic. Way more money was probably made off of Hey Jude than “Jude” got in the will. > > Forvermore, Hey Jude will now probably make me think of “whata dick!” rather than “sad but inspirational song” from now on. Think of a man being kind to a colleague’s son and trying to cheer him up. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/42 "2016-01-29T17:21:39Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Think of a man being kind to a colleague’s son and trying to cheer him up. Yeah, Hey Jude is Paul’s song. It is an encouragement song. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/43 "2016-01-29T23:46:13Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > No, 100,000 (pounds or dollars) is crumbs in an estate Lennon’s size. Leaving that much to Julian is just rubbing salt into the wound created through almost two decades of neglect. John was a doofus. You can see it in how he treated his ex-wife, his bandmates, Julian and how much of a pussywhipped schmuck he was with Yoko. Pretty much a complete tool, other than as a songwriter and musician for about a decade. After the Beatles, he wasn’t even much of a musician or songwriter. I hate to say it, but I think this accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_mc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@Mark\_mc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_mc)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/44 "2017-12-22T19:05:13Z")
Karma is a bitch and im sure that John Lennon’s life was cut short because he cut short his love from his first son. So Instant Karma did get him! In the form of David Chapman. The savior of Julian Lennon. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/45 "2017-12-22T19:16:42Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Because John Lennon wasn’t all that he was cracked up to be, \*\*\*and pretty much a dick as a dad. * * * Emphasis mine. All the fluff aside, this pretty well sums it up… +1 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/46 "2017-12-22T19:27:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > And everybody hates Yoko. Which I have no problem with. (In the classic documentary The Ruttles, she is shown invariably in a black Nazi uniform. I always refer to her simply as the AntiChrist.) I know this is a reply to an old post, but “The Rutles” wasn’t a documentary. It was a satirical comedy. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/47 "2017-12-22T19:34:32Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know this is a reply to an old post…[snip] SOB! Once again, victim of a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/48 "2017-12-22T19:42:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know this is a reply to an old post, but “The Rutles” wasn’t a documentary. It was a satirical comedy. Pretty sure Leo was also being sarcastic there. 🙂 About the documentary part, not necessarily the AntiChrist part. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/49 "2017-12-22T19:42:58Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know this is a reply to an old post, but “The Rutles” wasn’t a documentary. It was a satirical comedy. I think **Leo** was being sarcastic, in much the same way that people refer to _This Is Spinal Tap_ as a documentary. We know it’s not real, but it’s fun to pretend that it is. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/50 "2017-12-22T20:17:14Z")
**Moderator Action** This has strayed pretty well out of GQ territory. The conversation seems to have turned mostly to everyone’s opinion of John Lennon, and since this is too mild for the Pit, let’s give CS a try. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/51 "2017-12-22T21:10:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know this is a reply to an old post, but “The Rutles” wasn’t a documentary. It was a satirical comedy. Captain obvious much? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/52 "2017-12-22T21:45:51Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I will never understand how Lennon could have let his dick do all the thinking for him in terms of his devotion to Yoko. It is incredibly appropriate that her name became a synonym for a gold-digging, talent-less, internal-strife-instigating, interloping broad. I still realize she (alone) did \*\*NOT \*\*break them up, but her actions ever since have just confirmed her selfish, narcissistic personality over and over again… I realize I’m responding to an old post but a lot of people project too much on to Yoko. They want to blame her for things so they can preserve their love for John. But I feel a truer view on their relationship was that Yoko indulged John and gave him permission to do things he had wanted to do anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/53 "2017-12-22T21:59:06Z")
> [@Mark\_mc](#): > > Karma is a bitch and im sure that John Lennon’s life was cut short because he cut short his love from his first son. So Instant Karma did get him! In the form of David Chapman. The savior of Julian Lennon. My understanding of Karma is that it’s more or less even. Being murdered in front of your wife outside of your home is not equal to being a dick to your first wife and son.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/54 "2017-12-22T22:55:36Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The worst I’ve ever seen about McCartney was that he believed he was the better musician than either Starr or Harrison, and treated them accordingly. However, that kind of creative difference and self-opinion seems quite different to me than poor treatment of your son and ex-wife. > > There’s something to be said for being pleasantly insincere. 🙂 Well, he was a better musician than either of them. Ringo was a really good, if idiosyncratic, drummer. I’m not sure he had the range to work outside of the pop genre, but he was the right drummer for the Beatles. He’s a huge part of their sound. Harrison is a really good guitar player. I always loved his slide playing – it’s instantly recognizable, and he’s one of the few slide players (that I know of – I’m not exactly a walking musical encyclopedia) to break out of the blues genre. But McCartney is a total musician. He can write and perform anything. His forays into the classical genre are a bit different, in that, while he could certainly come up with the melodies, he needed help with the orchestration. That’s not a put-down of McCartney – he simply didn’t have the musical education to score symphonic music. And in the classical world, orchestration is considered just as important as coming up with melodies. But, that said, McCartney is a prodigious musician, and I’m not sure the same can be said of Starr or Harrison. Still, if it’s true that he was a jerk about his supposedly superior musical skills, then he was a jerk. The Beatles wouldn’t have achieved what they did without Starr or Harrison. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/55 "2017-12-22T23:27:12Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Action** > > This has strayed pretty well out of GQ territory. The conversation seems to have turned mostly to everyone’s opinion of John Lennon, and since this is too mild for the Pit, let’s give CS a try. So, to clarify: all you are saying, is, give CS a chance? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/56 "2017-12-23T00:17:24Z")
So… what’s the relationship between Julian and Sean? Are they distant relations or something closer? And I can appreciate John Lennon’s music while thinking he was an asshat of a human being. Plenty of artists are not nice people even if they are talented. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/57 "2017-12-23T01:13:17Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So… what’s the relationship between Julian and Sean? Are they distant relations or something closer? Half brothers, or do you mean how do they interact? (To my understanding ‘not much’.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/58 "2017-12-23T01:39:49Z")
I have seen an interview where Julian claims to have a good relationship with Sean. Apparently they support each others endeavors. Sean’s music and Julians photography. Who really knows? They are probably so screwed up being celebrity kids. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/59 "2017-12-23T01:43:42Z")
This thread just reminded me that I had recently read Howard Kaylan’s [autobiography](https://www.amazon.com/Shell-Shocked-Turtles-Eddie-Frank/dp/1617808466) wherein he relates the tale he later made into a [movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Dinner_with_Jimi). John Lennon comes off poorly indeed. Sorta like a smirking, vicious, frat-boy sort. Made all the more interesting in that they were warned ahead of time he could be kinda difficult. Apparently he apologized years later for his behavior that night( and in his defense Jim Tucker, the victim of Lennon’s verbal abuse in the story, claims he wasn’t the reason he quit music and doesn’t really remember Lennon saying much of anything ). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308/60 "2017-12-23T02:12:41Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Half brothers, or do you mean how do they interact? (To my understanding ‘not much’.) I knew they were half brothers, it’s the interactions I’m interested in. Sorry, I’m a bit muddled between illness and medication, so thanks for expressing what I was having trouble expressing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-julian-lennon-left-out-of-john-lennons-will/744308.md?page=4)