How can I remove links from the function “get term list”?

It may be easier to just write the list manually, something like:

<?php
$terms = wp_get_post_tags( $post->ID );
//For custom taxonomy use this line below
//$terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post->ID, 'people' );

foreach( $terms as $term )
    $term_names[] = $term->name;

echo implode( ', ', $term_names );