Bruce Willis Ends The “Is ‘Die Hard’ A Christmas Movie” Debate

The debate has finally been settled: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. Some Die Hard fans believe that the Bruce Willis classic is a Christmas movie because it’s set around the holidays, but after years of arguing, John McClane himself is here to set them straight. At the taping of this year’s Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis (the special airs on Sunday, July 29) the actor ended the show with a proclamation heard ’round the world: “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! It’s a goddamn Bruce Willis movie!” Pour one out for the people who put Die Hard at the top of their “Best Christmas Movies of All Time” lists.

Willis’ bombshell came at the very end of the roast, so if you’re a Die Hard fan, make sure you tune into the whole show to catch it. During Willis’ brief rebuttal (the honorees get a chance to respond to their roasters at the end of the show), the actor explained that the only reason he sat through the roast was to put an end to the endless Christmas-or-not debate, and he then silenced any criticism with a harmonica solo. I guess you can’t respond to angsty Die Hard fans when you’re busy playing a small wind instrument?

Honestly, the fact that Bruce Willis has to clarify whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie is kind of ridiculous. The film was released in July 1988 (as in, peak action movie season), and John McClane saving a Christmas Eve holiday party is simply a side note: the partygoers could just as easily fall under siege on Valentine’s Day, or New Year’s Eve, or the Fourth of July. As our Brett White put it, “Saying Die Hard is a great Christmas movie is like if I said Star Wars was great historical fiction, or that Saving Private Ryan was a solid beach movie, or that Jurassic Park was the best vacation movie of all time.”

Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. Do not @ us — or Bruce Willis.

The Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis airs on Sunday, July 29 at 10 pm ET.