Silly. We have videos of him in the recording sessions with George Martin. Not one of the Beatles, nor George Martin, nor their sound engineer who wrote a book, ever said anything like that.
One time, Ringo was refusing to play and Paul played on one song.
Paul played drums on Back In the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Martha My Dear, and The Ballad of John and Yoko.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/how-many-beatles-songs-did-paul-mccartney-play-drums-on.html/
That’s how you got Paul playing drums on both “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and “Dear Prudence.” Yet these weren’t the only examples of Paul playing Ringo’s instrument on Beatles records. There are at least two other occasions.
Paul also played drums on ‘Martha My Dear’ and ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko.’
Here's one song that I know for a fact that Paul played the drums on when Ringo was away and it's one of my favorite Beatles songs.