Classic ‘Christmas date rape song’ pulled from US radio station
- ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’, recorded over the years by a range of star singers, dropped by WDOK in Cleveland due to objections from listeners
- Song labelled ‘manipulative and wrong’ in #MeToo era
A US radio station is giving the cold shoulder to the classic Christmas song Baby It’s Cold Outside, removing it from its line-up of holiday music because its lyrics are inappropriate toward women, staff members say.
The decades-old catchy tune, recorded over the years by such big names as Dean Martin, Ray Charles and Dolly Parton, recounts the efforts of a man coaxing a woman to stay with him overnight, repeatedly overriding her objections.
The woman’s lines include “I really can’t stay” and “Say, what’s in this drink?”, and his lines include “Beautiful what’s your hurry” and “Baby don’t hold out”.
In Cleveland, in the US state of Ohio, radio station WDOK took the song out of its list of holiday music due to objections from listeners, said Desiray McCray, an on-air radio host.
“When the song was written in 1944, it was a different time, but now while reading it, it seems very manipulative and wrong,” wrote Glenn Anderson, another on-air host, on the station’s website. “The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place.”
