One of the best and most revealing JBJ interviews in a long time

No, please, no

You may have seen the recent Billboard interview (http://www.billboard.com/articles/ev...legend-of-live) where Jon talks about the album creation process, how it's now different because it involves the whole band unless the last few albums. If you remember from the shows (at least the London one) Jon took full responsibility for that, implying it was a mistake.

Guess what? I've seen a couple articles with overly melodramatic titles twisting what he said in the Billboard article:
http://www.antimusic.com/news/16/Nov...ibutions.shtml
http://www.gigwise.com/news/108539/b...to-our-records

That's not what Jon said. He has publicy recognized Richie's contribution, over and over again. But a sensationalist headline sells more.

So I'm extremely glad no media outlets have picked up on the whole "did Jon admit that alcoholism was Richie's real reason for leaving". Other than the articles posted here and at least one in Spanish, I haven't seen anything. I can imagine how well it would go so I hope it stays like this.

Yes, he has. He's been VERY clear about saying he (Jon) "co wrote" songs and that Richie was "a great collaborator" and "a great friend." He's been very classy when it comes to making sure Richie gets fair credit for being a collaborator in the songwriting process of many of the songs.