To Be Aired Tonite

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Ono: 'I was used as a scapegoat' in blame over Beatles breakup


Posted: October 19th, 2010 -- 07:00 AM ET

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Anderson Cooper reports


New York (CNN) – John Lennon’s widow says racism and sexism played a role in how she was blamed for the breakup of the Beatles decades ago.

“I was used as a scapegoat, a very easy scapegoat. You know, a Japanese woman and whatever,” Yoko Ono tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview set to air Tuesday on CNN’s AC360°.

“You think some of it was sexism, racism?” Cooper queried.

“Sexism, racism,” Ono replied. “But also just remember that the United States and Britain were fighting with Japan in World War II. It was just after that in a way so I can understand how they felt.”

But Ono also tells Cooper that the public hostility directed at her “was sort of like a distant thing in a way because John and I were so close. And we were just totally involved in each other and in our work.”

October 9 would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday. Ono built a special tribute to him in Iceland and talks with Cooper about the importance of remembering Lennon’s life and spirit. In the first of the three-part interview, Ono also talks about her memories of first meeting Lennon and how she coped with his murder 30 years ago.