OPINION | Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those held by Sarah Palin.
The politically correct culture that tried to take the iconic Christmas song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” off the radio may have just met its match: a Kentucky radio station who played the tune for two straight hours.
While many stations pulled the song from the Christmas playlists, WLKY (an ABC News affiliate) reports WAKY-FM played the song—on repeat, again and again—during the 2-hour marathon.
“BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE! We like it and we’re not afraid to play it on WAKY for the next couple of hours!” the radio station wrote on social media over the weekend.
“I’m not sure why it’s controversial,” said Joe Fredele, director of programming for WAKY, WLKY reports. “We’ve played this song for years, you know, this song is older than WAKY is. It’s almost 70 years old.”
And:
The song has come under fire as the #MeToo movement has brought the issue of consent to the forefront with critics saying the song sends the wrong message.
“We really need to think about the impact that songs have, not just ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside,’ but numerous songs that we decide to play on the radio,” said Amy Turner, the director of sexual assault services at The Center for Women and Families.
Fredele said he supports the #MeToo movement but does not understand why this particular song is being singled out.
— Advertisement — “This song is not about that. All it is, is a dialogue between a man and a woman, and at the end of the song, you hear them harmonize together, so they’re agreeing basically,” Fredele explained.
The song stirred some controversy early into the Christmas season as some people claimed the lyrics of the song were suggesting of sexual misconduct.
As the National reports, Glenn Anderson of Cleaveland-based radio station Star 102 said her station pulled the song because “it seems very manipulative and wrong.”
“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,” Anderson added.
Here’s more on the song, from Newsweek:
The song’s lyrics have come into question in recent months after the #MeToo movement highlighted the issue of consent. The 1944 duet—written by Frank Loesser—is about a woman who sings about leaving a man’s house while he attempts to convince her to stay by pointing out the bad weather outside.
“I really can’t stay,” the woman sings, before the man responds: “But baby, it’s cold outside.”
“What’s the sense of hurtin’ my pride?” the man replies.
Last month, an Ohio radio station removed the Christmas jam from its circulation after listeners complained about the lyrics’ predatory undertones. Cleveland station WDOK Christmas 102.1 confirmed to local Tribune news station that it would no longer air the song because the holiday lineup is decided by listeners and they voted to remove it.
Supporters of the song claimed those who complained largely misinterpreted lyrics from the 1944 classic. Star 102 Cleveland reimplemented the song after a poll on the station’s social media page showed overwhelming support for it.
