In December 2009, a campaign was launched on Facebook by Jon Morter and his wife Tracy, in order to stop, most notably, The X Factor hits from becoming almost automatic Christmas number ones on the UK Singles Chart. It generated nationwide publicity and took the track ” Killing in the Name ” to the coveted Christmas number one slot in the UK Singles Chart , which had been dominated for four consecutive years from 2005 by winners from the popular TV show The X Factor . Before the chart was announced on December 20, 2009, the Facebook group membership stood at over 950,000, and was acknowledged (and supported) by Tom Morello , Dave Grohl , Paul McCartney , Muse , Fightstar , NME , John Lydon , Bill Bailey , Lenny Henry , BBC Radio 1 , Hadouken! , the Prodigy , Stereophonics , BBC Radio 5 Live , and even the 2004 X Factor winner Steve Brookstein , among numerous others. On the morning of December 17, Rage Against the Machine played a slightly censored version of “Killing in the Name” live on BBC Radio 5 Live , but four repeats of ‘Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me’ were aired before the song was pulled. During the interview before the song they reiterated their support for the campaign and their intentions to support charity with the proceeds. The campaign was ultimately successful, and “Killing in the Name” became the number-one single in the UK for Christmas 2009. Zack de la Rocha spoke to BBC One upon hearing the news, stating that:
campaign launched on Facebook to stop X Factor hits
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