Eric Idle Said George Harrison Was so Trusting That He Was ‘Susceptible’ to Manipulation
George Harrison and Eric Idle were friends for years, and Idle said he admired many of the musician’s qualities. According to Idle, Harrison was extremely honest and expected the same of others. Sometimes, though, this could be a fault. Idle watched as Harrison’s business partner took advantage of him, and Harrison didn’t want to believe this was possible. According to Idle, Harrison’s moral code made him susceptible to dishonest people.
Those who knew the Beatle said he was very honest
While in The Beatles, Harrison had a reputation as the quiet, reserved member, but his friends said he wasn’t really like that.
“He never shut up,” Tom Petty told Rolling Stone, per The Petty Archives. “George had a lot to say. Boy, did he have a lot to say. That’s hysterical to me, you know, that he was known as the quiet one. I assume he got that name because the other ones were so much louder. I mean, they were very loud people. [laughs] One time he told me, ‘Me and Olivia had Paul and Linda over the other night, and you would have thought there were a hundred people in the house, it was so loud.'”
Petty said that Harrison could also be brutally honest.
“George really said everything that crossed his mind,” Petty explained. “I used to say, ‘You really can’t get a thought to your brain without it slipping out your mouth.’ And he was painfully honest. It was an endearing trait, but sometimes you hoped that he wouldn’t be quite as honest as he was going to be.”
Eric Idle said George Harrison could be overly trusting
Idle agreed with this assessment of Harrison. Sometimes, though, he thought Harrison’s honesty could get him into trouble. Because he wanted to believe that others were just as honest as he was, Harrison could be overly trusting.
While running his film production company, HandMade Films, with his business partner Denis O’Brien, Harrison didn’t realize that his finances were in trouble. While he believed that he and O’Brien were equal partners, O’Brien was only using Harrison’s money to run the company. Whenever the company needed money, O’Brien went to Harrison and asked for a check. Therefore, the millions of dollars of debt incurred fell solely on Harrison. He felt deeply betrayed by his business partner and friend.
“One of the things that George always liked was for someone to take care of things,” Idle said, per the book Very Naughty Boys by Robert Sellers. “He needed that, in a way, because he was an artist and if someone could take care of the business that was great. He worked on absolute trust, George, he always told the truth, he never lied, even when it was painful. So the idea that someone would not be telling the truth to him didn’t actually enter his head. He was susceptible.”
Eric Idle and George Harrison were friends for years
Idle and Harrison were friends for years and, as a celebration of the musician after his death, Idle and other remembers of Monty Python performed at the Concert for George. The event was meant to celebrate Harrison’s life through his music.
“Olivia [Harrison] asked me if Python would come on,” Idle told Yahoo!. “She said, ‘Everybody’s doing a George song. Would you do “Piggies”?’ And I said, ‘We don’t really do songs. We’re not a singing group. You know, we do idiotic and rude things! So, why don’t we sing “Sit on My Face and Tell Me That You Love Me”?’ And she let us do it, so we did it! And I thought, ‘He would’ve been so happy that we did this. This would’ve made him so proud.'”
Idle believed his friend would have appreciated something to lighten the mood at such a somber event.
