Dozens of Canadian radio stations have decided to stop broadcasting the classic Christmas song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, written in 1944, because its lyrics can be interpreted as sexual harassment.
The song, which is a duet, recounts the attempts of a woman to leave a man’s house and his insistence that she stay with the excuse that it is cold in the street. The letter also includes references to alcohol and her suspicions about what is actually in her drink.
The duet was popularized in 1949 by actress Esther Williams and actor Ricardo Montalbán in the film “Neptune’s Daughter”, when the song won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Since then, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has been performed by artists such as Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart or Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé. In 2013, Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also performed the melody, although the roles were reversed.
Given the controversy caused by the detailed reading of the lyrics of the song after the appearance of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, the Canadian public broadcaster, CBC, has decided not to broadcast the song on dozens of radio and television stations that it has in the whole country.
CBC’s decision has also been joined by the two largest commercial radio companies in the country, Bell Media and Rogers.
CBC said that although the lyrics of a song can be interpreted in different ways and that in the case of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” there are people who defend their safety, “in view of the times we live”, has “decided to withdraw the song, at the moment “.
Earlier this week, the radio station WDOK-FM, of Cleveland, announced that it will stop broadcasting the song due to the protests of some of its listeners. (EFEUSA) .-
