Rock’s Biggest Christmas Haters: Ozzy Osbourne and Noel Gallagher

Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year for everyone. Call them scrooges or grinches if you’d like, but there are some people who simply would rather skip the holiday altogether. Two such people: Ozzy Osbourne and Noel Gallagher.

Those of you that have seen 2003’s The Osbourne Family Christmas Special probably already know this. Fortunately, someone took it upon themselves to splice together every moment from that special in which Osbourne’s hatred of the holiday is on full display, from fighting with strings of Christmas lights to attempting to destroy decor.

“Sharon, I just had a terrible dream. I dreamt it was Christmas,” he says to his wife at the beginning of the montage. She informs him that is it, indeed, Christmas. “Oh, f—,” he replies.

Osbourne never once appeared to change his mind about the matter. If anything his dislike seemed to grow stronger as he got older.

“I’ve been saying to Sharon forever, ‘F— Christmas, I hate it,'” he said in 2018. He was then gearing up for Ozzfest. “It’s for shopaholics and kids and so I’ve always wanted to work through Christmas.”

READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne’s 10 Craziest TV Moments

As recently as the tail end of 2024 – the very last Christmas Osbourne was alive for — the Sabbath singer continued his anti-Christmas crusade.

“I f—ing hate Christmas. It gets right up my a–hole,” the told The Sun then (via American Songwriter). “When I used to do booze and get f—ed up, I bought a barrel with 28 gallons of booze for me. I drunk it before it was Christmas f—ing Eve.”

A ‘Stain on Society’

However, even Osbourne’s comments seem tame compared to the words and feelings of Noel Gallagher. Though his first name is quite literally the French word for Christmas, the Oasis songwriter has described it as a “f—ing stain on society.”

“I f—ing hate it with a passion,” he said in 2017. “The jingles — let me pause there by saying when John Lewis put my tune in an ad last Christmas, I loved that.”

Gallagher was referring to a 2015 ad run by John Lewis & Partners, a British department store chain, that used a cover of Oasis’ “Half the World Away” performed by the Swedish singer Aurora. (Interestingly, the cover version went to No. 11 in the U.K. not long after the ad ran.)

Hear Oasis’ ‘Half the World Away’ in a John Lewis Ad

“At that particular point I thought, ‘Christmas, you know what? I’m going to give Christmas a second chance here,'” he continued. “You know what I mean? I gave it a second chance. It was f—ing sh-t. Too much food, too much ‘we are the world,’ jumpers, the TV presenters, the sh-t adverts, the f—ing weather. Christmas is sh-t. It’s so boring it’s unbelievable. … We are not the f—ing world, we are not the children. Christmas is for divs.” (Div being British slang for a particularly foolish or stupid person.)

Gallagher didn’t love that his song was suddenly becoming heavily associated with a holiday he doesn’t even like.

“It will forever be synonymous with Christmas from now on and, as is well known, it’s not my favorite time of year,” he told BBC Radio 2 then (via The Independent). “Having said that, at least it comes with a check, which, believe me, is highly worthwhile. Don’t go buying me John Lewis vouchers for Christmas, trying to be a smart arse, inside a card that says ‘Noel.'”

In 2017, Gallagher was also asked if he planned on giving his brother, Liam, anything for Christmas. He replied confidently: “What I give him every year: the benefit of my genius, which he seems to be cashing in on. So, you know, merry f—ing Christmas.”

Classic Rock Christmas Playlist