Question: Beatles "Bigger Than Jesus" FAQ - The controversy begins

How did the controversy begin?

Answer: The full article, entitled "How Does A Beatle Live?" was published in the London Evening Standard on March 4, 1966. John's pronouncements stirred little interest in an already-polarized England; Cleave herself has said that the staff of the Standard assumed John meant the Jesus quote "ironically." However, in August 1966, the American teen magazine Datebook published Lennon's Jesus quote on its cover, as part of a series of quotes from pop idols of the day.

John's quote -- "I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity" -- was immediately seized upon by American audiences as sacrilegious, especially in the South. (Oddly, there was no complaint over Paul's uncensored quote on the same cover: "It's a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty n*****!")