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03rd Dec 2018

Here’s why people are up in arms over ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ right now

Christmas FM has confirmed that it won't be playing the song this year.

Anna O'Rourke

It’s featured in everything from Glee to Elf and has been covered by legends like Michael Bublé and Dean Martin – but is it time to leave ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ in the past?

The Christmas classic, first written in 1944 by Oscar-nominated songwriter Frank Loesser to perform at parties with his wife, is beloved of many but has gotten a lot of flak online recently.

Critics have claimed that the tone and some of the lyrics of ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’, in which we hear a man trying to convince a female guest to stay over, are ‘rapey’.

Here's why people are up in arms over 'Baby It's Cold Outside' right now

The issue was first raised by US radio host Glenn Anderson, who explained in a statement that he wouldn’t be playing ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’this year.

“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,” he said.

Now Irish station Christmas FM has confirmed that it won’t be playing the song either.

The song “didn’t resonate well with listeners” and so was dropped last year, it said in a tweet.

 

The song itself

A closer look at the lyrics shows that, if we’re honest with ourselves, they probably wouldn’t be included in a song written today

“Ah, you’re very pushy you know? (I like to think of it as opportunistic)”

“Say what’s in this drink? (No cabs to be had out there)”

“I ought to say no, no, no sir (Mind if move in closer?)”

Lots of cultural classics don’t age well, including beloved Christmas songs – something that can be hard to swallow for fans.

Many have argued that ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ is simply of its time.

But others are pleased to see that it’s beginning to fall out of favour.

There’s another argument doing the rounds online which goes that the woman in the song wants to stay but is wary of being slut-shamed.

Where do you stand on the song?