Guest post by Kristinn Taylor
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr spoke out against the Islamist terrorist group ISIS as being everything the Beatles were opposed to, expressing outrage that the name of the legendary Sixties British pop-rock group reknowned for being about ‘peace and love’ was being used as a nickname for British members of ISIS (aka ISIL) including one seen on recent videos beheading American hostages and threatening to do the same to a British hostage.
Starr’s comments on ISIS were reported by the Evening Standard on Thursday.
“”It’s b******t. What they are doing out there is against everything the Beatles stood for.
“”If we stood for anything, we never stood for that. The four of us absolutely stood for peace and love. But we are not in control.””
To reinforce the message, the 74-year-old Starr posted several photographs to Twitter on Thursday promoting ‘peace and love’.
A former hostage of ISIS told the Guardian three ISIS jihadis were nicknamed by the hostages “The Beatles” because they were from Britain.
Starr’s surviving Beatles partner, bass guitarist Paul McCartney also took a stand against Islamist terrorists in recent years. McCartney ignored death threats by Islamists and played a scheduled concert in Israel in 2008.
Back in the Beatles’ heyday, the group released their own beheading picture. This one being the infamous ‘butcher’ cover for the 1966 American release by Capitol Records of Yesterday and Today, a compilation album of songs cut from other Beatles albums released and yet to be released in the States as well as songs from a hit single. The macabre cover featured the four Beatles–Starr, McCartney, lead guitarist George Harrison and rhythm guitarist John Lennon dressed in smocks draped in slabs of meat and dismembered dolls. Harrison was seen grinning holding the decapitated head of a doll. The cover was withdrawn after protests and has since become a collector’s item.
21st Century irony: Real Beatle featured in fake beheading condemns fake Beatle who does real headings.
Peace and love. Now more than ever.
