'Baby It's Cold Outside' Ban Spreads

Christmas classic and Academy Award winning song 'Baby It’s Cold Outside' will no longer be played on some Canadian radio stations amid concerns over what some people say are inappropriate lyrics in the wake of the MeToo movement, reports Global News.

On Tuesday, a handful of all-Christmas music stations owned by Canadian broadcasters, including Corus Entertainment, Bell Media, Rogers and CBC Radio, said the 1940s song will not be played during its holiday programming.

The CBC said Tuesday while it recognizes “Song lyrics are always open to interpretation,” the broadcaster won’t play the holiday song.

“While we consider both points of view, and in light of the times we are living in, we have chosen to remove the song, for the time being, from two of our holiday music streams,” public affairs head Chuck Thompson said.

Corus Entertainment won’t air the song on its five holiday format stations across the country.

Last week, a Cleveland radio station WDOK Christmas 102.1 yanked Baby It’s Cold Outside, citing concerns over the MeToo movement.



The 1940s duet is usually performed by a male, who tries to persuade a female to stay at his place during wintry weather.

Concern over the song has existed for years, leading to many reinterpretations of the lyrics.

And two years ago, Minnesota couple Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski rewrote the lyrics to include lines about consent, such as a response to the woman’s line “I ought to say no, no, no” with the man saying: “You reserve the right to say no.”

WDOK’s listeners chimed in on the station’s decision to pull the song last week.

“Then I guess you should stop playing Santa baby, I saw mommy kissing Santa, Grandma got run over, because people think those are offensive too,” Michelle Nicola commented. This PC stuff is getting ridiculous, play whatever if people don’t like it they will turn the knob. You will never please everyone 100 per cent.”

“This song IS inappropriate, but I also understand it was written in the 40’s,” Arlyn Frances Wheatcraft commented. “Erasing history won’t change the future, education will.”

“You have that song all wrong. It is a love song, a conversation between a couple,” Maryann Tyukodi Langille chimed in. “He would like her to stay and she wants to go home. It is a conversation that probably happens a lot. This is total nonsense and you guys should be ashamed of your selves.”



Canadian music journalist and Corus Radio personality Alan Cross chimed in on the tune, “defending what many consider a song that many find offensive.”

“It’s very true that the current generation will look at the art of previous generations differently,” Cross wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “We are never obligated to accept the standards and practices that were once considered okay. Times and attitudes change. We’ve jettisoned many things from the past because they clearly no longer align with modernity.”

The journalist also went on to caution “we also have to be very careful about how we apply modern standards to other Christmas songs.”

 In 1944, Frank Loesser wrote "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for his wife, Lynn Garland, and himself to sing at a housewarming party in New York City. They sang the song to indicate to guests that it was time to leave a party.

In 1948, after years of performing the song, Loesser sold it to MGM for the 1949 romantic comedy Neptune's Daughter.

In the film, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was sung by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán, then by Betty Garrett and Red Skelton, who reversed the roles. The song won the Academy Award.

Meanwhile, Bay Area radio station KOIT said it was banning the holiday staple "Baby, It's Cold Outside,"

"I made the decision, it's off for now," Brian Figula, program manager at KOIT radio told CBS San Francisco, adding he is considering leaving the ultimate decision up to the people.

Since Figula announced the decision, the station has received many angry emails and social media posts from people upset with the decision, accusing the station of political correctness.

"They're upset!" said KOIT radio DJ Freska Griarte who has heard from lots of listeners from phone calls and social media posts.

"They're like, 'why are you guys doing this? What is going on? It's just a song.  While for some people, it means something more," Griarte said.

"I could definitely see where it's a little uncomfortable when you think about the lyrics being said," said Genevieve Ellison of San Francisco. "But then so are most of the songs on the radio today, right?"

The station launched a poll on their website Tuesday. Listeners can weigh in on whether or not to bring the song back through this coming weekend. KOIT will announce the results of the poll Monday, Dec. 10 at 7:20 a.m.

However in New York, WCBS 101.1 FM’s Broadway Bill says the station has seen a handful of complaints over the last couple years.

“Older Americans say that’s the way adults deal with each other, but younger women are afraid and I understand that,” Broadway Bill said.

Some people say the song’s controversy is as much about its tone as it is about its lyrics. Singers have the ability to reshape how we all hear it.

InsideRadio reports DeanMartin's version of the song, while classic – and classics generally work best with holiday programming – has only 304 plays over the seven-day period from Nov. 28-Dec. 4, according to Mediabase. The version of choice for holiday programmers these days is the one released in 2014 from Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé. In the same seven-day period the track has been detected 1,026 times by Mediabase. Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor’s 2016 cover of the song is a close second with 1,019 spins.