When it comes to fame, celebrities deal with it in different ways, and that's no different for legendary Beatle Paul McCartney. Some stars move out of Hollywood in favor of a quieter and safer area or ignore what critics are saying. Others, meanwhile, opt to face the industry head-on, either by staying in Tinsel Town or speaking out about the haters. It seems McCartney once did the latter by way of sending baby poop to a lying critic.
For context, during the ‘70s, following BeatleMania, which will be highlighted in Sam Mendes' upcoming films, McCartney started a fresh chapter with a new band: Wings. While they’ve grown to be respected over the years, that wasn't the case during their early days.
The memoir Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run recounts (via Us Weekly) the how the titular group received negative reviews and faced hostile critics. Former Wings drummer Denny Seiwell recalled how a British writer came to a show in the early ‘70s and claimed he wouldn’t be reviewing the show and would instead do a story on the band touring with their families. Despite the band letting him live like a rockstar for a bit, the journalist was not too impressed, as Seiwell explained:
We take him along to the sound check. We let him backstage. We let him on the bus. We let him see how we live and all that. He didn’t stay for the concert. He flew home. . . . And he slagged it. Everything about it. The way we lived. The way we traveled. The way we sounded.
The article was published a week later and allegedly included a “full-on review” of the concert he didn’t attend, and it sounds like it was not what everyone was expecting. I can only imagine the surprise the group had when the story came out, especially since it was supposed to be about how they tour with their families. The person who was allegedly most upset was McCartney, who at the time had three young daughters: Heather, Mary, and Stella with then-wife, Linda. McCartney wound up using their youngest to get back at the journalist, as Seiwell shared:
Stella was a baby at the time. So Paul and Linda took one of those little plastic soap dishes from the hotel we were in, and they got one of Stella’s turds, put it in the soap dish, wrapped it up, and sent it to him. You heard that from me. I don’t care if they want it to be known or not. I thought it was the perfect response to a crude British pressman.
I would have loved to know what the writer’s response was to that very “thoughtful” gift, as it was certainly unique. Considering the article was the opposite of what they were expecting, it's understandable that the "Live and Let Die" singer wanted to give the writer a piece of his mind. Still, I can't say sending someone feces would've been my first course of action in such a situation. If anything, I now want to know how Stella McCartney -- who has since taken over the fashion world -- thinks of her dad using her as ammunition when she was a baby.
Of course, at the time Wings was around, Paul McCartney was no stranger to criticism following the Beatles’ high. I'd be lying, though, if I said I couldn't understand the singer-songwriter's desire to get even after the writer broke the promise he made to the band.
I'd say that this alleged account from Denny Seiwell serves as another piece of interesting lore about Paul McCartney. The music icon himself hasn't formally commented on this bit from the memoir yet, and I'm eager to see if he does. (Also, I would love to somehow added to the upcoming biopic about McCartney and co.)
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