--- title: Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on Lennon's Death Anniversary description: Yoko Ono calls for peace and gun control on the anniversary of John Lennon's 1980 death in New York City. canonical: https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-08T16:42:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:17.367Z og:title: Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on Lennon's Death Anniversary og:description: "The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience" og:url: https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on Lennon's Death Anniversary twitter:description: "The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 8, 2016 4:42 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 8, 2016 4:42 PM UTC [Yoko Ono](http://time.com/4558737/yoko-ono-influential-photo/) has issued a plea for peace amid [the toll of gun violence](http://time.com/4537499/tim-kaine-guns-in-the-hands-of-artists/) on the [36th anniversary of her late husband John Lennon’s murder](http://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/); [Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman](http://time.com/3620623/john-lennon-death/) on this day (Dec. 8, 1980) outside of his home at the Dakota in New York City. In a message posted on [her website, Imagine Peace](https://time.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4595055&action=edit), and on Facebook, Ono posted a plea to “bring back America, the green land of Peace,” along with an image of Lennon’s blood-stained eyeglasses. “Dear Friends,” she wrote. “Every day, 91 Americans are killed with guns. We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone. Together, let’s bring back America, the green land of Peace. The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 36 years, our son Sean and I still miss him.” The photo also stated that more than 1,200,000 people were killed by guns since Lennon’s death in 1980. See the full post below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/"},"headline":"Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death","datePublished":"2016-12-08T16:42:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:17.367Z","description":"\"The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience\"","url":"https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","John Lennon","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4595055/yoko-ono-peace-john-lennons-death-anniversary/","name":"Yoko Ono Calls for Peace on the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death"}}]}] ```