Video: 'John Lennon / Beatles 1966 / Jesus statement'

(Thursday, August 11, 1966, evening CDT) — The Beatles hold two press conferences tonight at Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago, during which John Lennon apologized for his “more popular than Jesus” remark made in a magazine interview in March, saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I said it really. I didn’t mean it as a lousy, anti-religious thing. I was sort of deploring the attitude toward Christianity. I wasn’t saying the Beatles are better than God or Jesus” (click here and here to watch an extended clips of the press conference #1).

The Beatles arrived in Chicago at 4:55 p.m. CDT to begin their third concert tour of America the following day.

Video: 'Beatles Chicago 66 multi camera press conference'

Video: 'The Beatles, John Lennon and the More Popular Than Jesus Controversy (1966)' (Aug. 11, 1966, press conference at 9:54)

Video: 'THE BEATLE INTERVIEWS The Beatles' (Aug. 11, 1966, press conference #2 at 1:14)