Monday, December 10, 2018

'Baby' Song Ban Termed Totally Misguided

Scene from the movie Neptune's Daughter
The controversy over the the Frank Loesser 1944 written song 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' caught the attention last week of the co-hosts on CBS This Morning.

Cohost Gayle King is on the side of letting the song air, as it has for decades. “I’m so irritated by this. It’s like, people, sit down,” she said. “We are losing our sense of humor nowadays. I’m a big supporter and big proponent of the #MeToo movement, but I just don’t think we have to knit-pick every single little thing.” Noting that the song was written years ago, the outspoken host continued, “When you look at the intent of the song, to me, it’s a very flirtatious back and forth between the two of them. I think you can look at anything and read something into it these days.”



King felt she would get some backlash for taking a stance. “I know I’m going to get hammered for this,” she said. However, most of the comments on the “CBS This Morning” tweets have been in support of King and in favor of the song being played on the air.

The songs has been recorded numerous times since its debut in the movie "Neptune's Daughter.” Susan Loesser, the daughter of songwriter Frank Loesser, spoke to Inside Edition amid renewed outrage over the song. Susan says connecting the song to the MeToo movement is off the mark.



In an opinion piece in the L-ATimes, writer Paul Thornton states,  "When a song is written, it usually reflects the contemporaneous era’s moral standards. When you think back to many of the suggestive and crude songs written since then, they are so overt and offensive to women, so why not challenge them too?"

He adds, "It’s a form of censorship to advocate banning this 74-year-old song from the radio. How empty and dull the world would be without the talents of Loesser and his ilk of the early 20th century, including the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter and many others.

"I believe in the #MeToo movement 100%, but condemning a classic song and composer who isn’t here to defend his creation is censorship. Focusing on this song is totally misguided when there are far more pressing issues that demand our attention."

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