Noel Gallagher has been named an “enemy of the people” in China. Wait–what?

Noel Gallagher has formally been banned from ever setting foot in China. What’s more is that he’s been branded an enemy of the people. Turns out that this isn’t a new thing, either.

Noel recently explained that 20 years ago, he received a letter from the Chinese government expressing anger for a show he played in New York in 1997. He took time out from Oasis’ Be Here Now tour to appear at one of of the Free Tibet shows organized by The Beastie Boys. Once the Chinese Communist Party got wind of this, they banned him from the country just in case he might say something silly like “free Tibet” on Chinese soil.

From the Daily Star:

“I only found out I was banned when Oasis got invited to go to China a good 20 years ago.

“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.

“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.

“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.’ They we’re like no.

“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.”