Noel Gallagher Is Banned For Life From China, As He's An 'Enemy Of The People'

20 June 2022 | 11:51 am | Staff Writer

“I’ve got a letter somewhere from the Minister of The Interior saying, ‘You are an enemy of the people,’ or something like that."

In a new interview with the Daily Star, Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher has revealed that he's been banned from ever entering China. While Gallagher is renowned for ruffling feathers globally, it was a show that he performed with his band in 1997 which left him banned from the biggest country in the world.  

"I only found out I was banned when Oasis got invited to go to China a good 20 years ago," he said

"We’d agreed to go and all the paperwork came and you had to send through a list of your songs and the Chinese government sent you back a list of songs that weren’t appropriate and we’d agreed to do all that."

He goes on to say, "About a month before we were about to leave I got a letter saying you lot can come but you can’t because of this thing you did for the Tibetan people. I’d forgot I’d even done it."

Gallagher recalled that he only performed the show because his brother Liam couldn't be bothered. 


Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

"Oasis were on tour at the time and it was a day off and Oasis got asked to do it and no one else would do it so it was like I’ll do it.

"All my equipment was in Ohio somewhere and I wasn’t into playing acoustics then, we never used to do Wonderwall with an acoustic the we used to do it electric.“

He described the show as a punish, stating, "As I remember I only did about three or four songs but it felt like it was about four hours long. I was on in between Radiohead and U2, full bands."

He continues to describe how his reaction to getting banned, saying, "The reason that they didn’t want you there was in case you started spouting off some pro-Tibetan s**t. I was like, ‘Mate, I’m not even interested in Tibet, I’m not arsed just let me go.’

“I’ve got a letter somewhere from the Minister of The Interior saying, ‘You are an enemy of the people,’ or something like that. 

“The rest were invited with open arms.”