Couple called 'rancid' after raising £51k to ban 'Last Christmas' by Wham

A couple who have raised more than £51,000 in order to purchase the beloved Christmas song 'Last Christmas' by Wham! and have it banned forever have been dubbed 'rancid' for the stunt.

50-year-old Tomas Mazetti and his 33-year-old wife Hannah have admitted to hating the classic tune written by George Michael so much that they want to make sure that themselves and others never have to hear the song again.

Hannah, a painter who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden said that she grew a strong dislike for the song when she was working in cafe in Oxford 13 years ago where her boss insisted on playing it on repeat.

And last Christmas she was talking to friends about how much she disliked it still - and how much she'd pay to never hear it again, inspiring this year's online fundraiser.

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So far, 327 people have pledged $62,100. But the mum-of-three has a mammoth task ahead of her.

The rights are currently owned by Warner Chappell Music UK and are valued at between $15 million and $25 million.

Hannah, a painter, who lives in Gothenburg in Sweden, said: "I was studying English and worked extra to pay the bills and the owner of the cafe had planned for a super cosy holiday season and had his own made CD with a number of 'hits' on it.

SWNS

"He was only in now and then, so he didn’t fully appreciate the agony the rest of the staff felt when 'Last Christmas' played for the 111th time of the working day. It started last Christmas - pun not intended - when we asked friends how much they would be willing to pay never to hear the song again.

"Quite a lot it turned out, and when the song started playing this November we were reminded.

"Then someone told us it was theoretically possible to buy the rights to the song and then take it of all streaming platforms! We asked around among our friends and word spread.

"It’s fun because people either love or hate the idea! Maybe next Christmas will be the last Christmas!"

The couple's three kids August, 16, Julian, 10, and Ada, seven, are also on board with the mission to rid the world of the song.

They have set a goal of $15,000,000 which will take them to the next stage of negotiating with Warner Chappell Music UK, they said.

If the dream comes true, they intend to dump the master recording in a Finnish nuclear waste site "where it'll rest for at least two million years. Hannah and Tomas, a writer, said they want it to be known they "don't hate Wham!" but reckon the song is overplayed.

"I’m sorry, but this is the way it has to be," she said.

"We don’t hate Wham!, but we hate this song.

"It is because it is being played 5,000 times per day, but we felt something had to be done to support the people that suffer like us."

They said their mission has received backlash with Twitter users dubbing the fundraiser "rancid."

"50% get really angry and 50% get really happy," she said.

"Some people seem to love to hear the song 500 times a day.

"And those people are our enemies.

"They said that there are even worse songs that should be taken off before this - like Mariah Carey’s 'All I want for Christmas' - and that if we don’t like it we could wear headphones, and that it is strange to want to remove something beautiful for the rest of humanity just because we don’t like it."

Warner Chappell Music has been approached for comment.

SWNS reporting by Barney Reilly.

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