Christmas elicits a myriad of emotions in us all, but those emotions typically keep to the same spectrum.

The holiday season is intended to be one of joy, giving, and compassion. Nearly every flick released about the widely celebrated Christian holiday is overstuffed with the broadly approved emotions of the season, ensuring that anyone interested in spreading holiday joy merely has to peruse their film collection to find a heaping dose of good cheer.

Not all holiday films are equal, of course, but the consensus is that Christmas movies — while not always up to the standard of un-themed releases — are a staple of the season. You can’t truly have Christmas without at least one or two tinseled-out movie viewings — it’s tradition. What films you watch is entirely up to you — I know I’m a cliche, but may I recommend Die Hard? — but it’s rare that a proper Grinch comes along and proclaims their distaste for every and all Christmastime movies.

That’s exactly what Stephen King recently did, however. The 76-year-old took to Twitter to, unprompted, blast the Yuletide season’s entertainment lineup. He’s one of exceedingly few Christmas movie detractors, and it seems there’s no convincing him otherwise.

Does Stephen King hate Christmas movies?

On Dec. 18, 2023 — just one week ahead of Christmas — beloved horror author Stephen King woke up and chose violence. He ventured over to the social media site formerly known as Twitter and, upon stumbling across someone’s recommendation for a Christmas double feature, shared a thoroughly “Bah, humbug” sentiment. He retweeted fellow author Ray Garton’s suggestion of a White Christmas/Holiday Inn double feature with a simple, grouchy sentiment: “I hate Christmas movies.”

King knew what he was doing when he hit that retweet button. He knew he’d set off a firestorm online, as weirdly political Twitter users blasted the “woke leftists” for trying to cancel Christmas (thanks for buying into that one, Steve), and normal, un-aggrieved people flocked to recommend some less distasteful holiday picks.

It’s pretty amazing how protective people get over a few cash-grab Christmas films. Apparently, I join King in being an America-hating woke leftist for this, but I’d rather lose my eyesight permanently than sit through more than one Hallmark holiday hoak-fest. Those things don’t count as Christmas movies — they’re nothing but cheese and bad acting wrapped up in red and green.

But also, if you like those things, more power to you. I am delighted at the rampant joy this season brings along with it, and I would never want to ruin that for anyone. Nor, I assume, would King — though he does love to start a fire online. While he may never concretely confirm his feelings on the season’s cinematic offerings, it seems likely that King doesn’t hate each and every Christmas movie out there. Rather, he’s not a fan of the vast majority — which, again, is pretty fair — and wanted to ruffle the feathers of those Christmas police stalking the web.

Even if he does hate Christmas movies, however, does it really matter? None of you reading this live with the man, right? So you can still watch Christmas movies at your own home, in peace? Great. So let the man be a grouch and hate on Christmas movies, and we’ll all sip our hot chocolate, cue up Die Hard, and soak up the holiday spirit for ourselves.

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