BONO has claimed The Beatles as his countrymen.
The U2 frontman was speaking at a ceremony on Ellis Island to unveil a giant tapestry marking the 40th anniversary of John Lennon getting his US green card.
The tapestry, unveiled at an event organised by Amnesty International, shows Manhattan as a giant yellow submarine with Lennon at the helm and marked the inaugural John Lennon Day.
Speaking in the presence of the former Beatle’s widow Yoko Ono and secretary general of Amnesty International Salil Shetty, Bono spoke poignantly of John Lennon and his Irish roots, as well as the journey that took him to America.
Bono's said: “He didn’t sail across the Atlantic in an ocean liner or a yellow submarine. He didn’t come in on a third-class ticket looking for a job in Hell’s Kitchen. He didn’t climb up out of steerage with all his potatoes in a single suitcase. But John Lennon was an immigrant all the same.”
He then added, “Let’s claim him, in fact, let’s claim all the Beatles not as immigrants but as Irish.”
Lennon’s father seaman Alfred Lennon, is believed to have had Irish parents.
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