40 Years Ago Tonight, MNF Broke The News Of John Lennon's Murder

[Ranched]

On the evening on December 8, 1980, few vehicles other than word of mouth spoken into wall-mounted telephones existed to spread news quickly. That night, Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon outside Lennon’s New York City apartment building.

The announcement came courtesy of Howard Cosell of Monday Night Football. Here's a great behind-the-scenes look at the decision-making process that resulted in Cosell breaking the news.

https://www.___GET_REAL_URL___/s/profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/12/08/40-years-ago-tonight-monday-night-football-broke-the-news-of-john-lennons-murder/amp/

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I can recall exactly where i was when the news broke, Chapman even admitted he deserved the death penalty and i agree.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

My mom was driving me down to the shopping center to buy some black pants for me for my first employed job (McDonald's, though I was a paper boy before that) when we heard it on the radio.

 

[CouchCoach]

I can recall exactly where i was when the news broke, Chapman even admitted he deserved the death penalty and i agree.

I was in the Parker Meridian hotel on Central Park, just a short walk from the Dakota, which I took later that night to join people I didn't know to share in something so hard to understand or accept. The concierge handed me a candle to take with me as I was walking out as we'd talked about this earlier that evening and everywhere I looked there seemed to be confusion in the faces of everyone. I can still remember the look on their faces, confusion, grief and shock. On my nightly call to my wife, we cried as if we'd lost an immediate family member and I could hear "Beautiful Boy" playing in the background.

John Lennon is on my short list of people in music and where they might have taken it had they not died too young. He joins Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Jimi Hendrix and few others.