40 Years Ago The News Of John Lennon's Death Broke On Monday Night Football

The night of December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside of his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman, and millions of people first heard the tragic news during the Monday Night Football game on ABC between the Patriots and Dolphins.

Howard Cosell, who interviewed Lennon during a Monday night game six years and a day earlier on December 9th, 1974, was the one who broke the news, but he had to be talked into it by his co-host, Frank Gifford.

You can watch both of those videos below, and I also included rare audio from the the conversation Cosell and Gifford had off the air before making the announcement.

Photo: Getty Images


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