The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has voiced displeasure over the use of the name of the iconic band to identify an infamous group of men with British accents belonging to the jihadist terrorist group Islamic State (IS).
"What they are doing out there is against everything The Beatles stood for," Starr told the London Evening Standard.
"If we stood for anything, we never stood for that," said the drummer, referring to the string of crimes against humanity the IS have been committing across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
"The four of us absolutely stood for love and peace. But we are not in control," bemoaned Starr, acknowledging the band's powerlessness in regard to the use of their name for classifying the British gang.
Starr, 74, said he was also saddened that the men in the fanatic group were given nicknames based on the members of The Beatles.
As revealed by a former IS captive, the gang of three is led by a man nicknamed "Jihadi John," after the band's co-lead vocalist and songwriter John Lennon.
"Jihadi John" is believed to have been the one who carried out the recent beheadings of two American journalists which were videotaped and uploaded on the Internet. The two other British fighters are nicknamed Paul and Ringo.
The musician, who has continued to work in music since the disbandment of The Beatles in 1970, was recently given the "Man of the Year" award by GQ magazine for his humanitarian work with the David Lynch Foundation's Peace and Love fund.
Other members of The Beatles, meanwhile, were or have been actively involved in causes for peace. Lennon took a firm anti-war stance during and after his time with the group and released songs such as "Give Peace a Chance," "Imagine," and "Merry Xmas (War Is Over)".
The band's lead guitarist, George Harrison, mounted "The Concert for Bangladesh" in 1971 to raise international awareness and relief efforts for refugees from the Bangladesh genocide.