Blur's Alex James Reveals He Was Once Kicked Out of Church Christmas Party for Using Naked Baby Jesus Figurine as Ashtray

Mar. 15, 2025

Alex James of Blur in April 2024.Photo:Theo Wargo/Getty

Alex James of Blur performs at the Coachella Stage during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 20, 2024 in Indio, California.

Theo Wargo/Getty

Blur’s Alex James was definitely on the naughty list one year.

“I had been smoking in the room with the art and the objects, as usual,” he writes. “Someone I didn’t know had said, ‘I’m not sure if you’re allowed to smoke in here.’ I’d dutifully picked up a little ashtray on the sideboard where I was leaning and extinguished my cigarette.”

However, what James picked up was not in fact an ashtray. Instead, it was a statue of Jesus.

The incident got worse when he broke the figurine and tried to repair it.

He adds: “The arm came off along with a plume of impossibly fine, glittering, powdery dust.”

Luckily, James “managed to wedge it back on.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Alex James perform with Blur in August 2023.Rune Hellestad - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Alex James perform with Blur at day 2 of Way Out Fest 2023 on August 11, 2023 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Rune Hellestad - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Jamesgave up drinking alcohol in 2002before he met his wife Claire Neates – the mother of his five children — and married her in April 2003.

In an interview withRed MagazineviaVirgin Radio, the Blur bassist opened up about the differences between his life as an artist and at home parenting.

“The last time I went away, I dropped the kids at school and flew to Mexico City, where there were thousands of people waiting for us at the airport and hotel. When we got to the venue – a stadium – it was huge,” he said. “But afterward, you get home and you have to wash up and the kids are like, ‘Dad, stop being a w—–.'”

source: people.com