Atlantic Canada — Radio stations across the world are collectively refusing to play the controversial Christmas jingle “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” because the song’s lyrics seem to imply that climate change is not a very real problem.
“I mean the guy in the song is saying it’s cold outside, when evidence suggests it’s simply not as cold as it was in past decades. Yes, context is important, but we need to adapt our holiday listening for the current climate. Pun intended,” said environmental activist and radio DJ Larry Smith. “It’s 2018 — we need to be more responsible with the messages we’re putting out across the airwaves.”
Not everyone is on board with the song being banned.
“You need to think of it in the context of when it was written. Back in the ’50s, no one knew about climate change or that the planet was warming up, so how can we retroactively decide it’s offensive?” said Holly Bellweather of Fredericton, as she decorated her tree and hummed along to the Michael Bublé version of the song. “It’s just a nice song and I’m not going to be deleting it from my Spotify playlist.”
Some parents, however, are in favour of the radio censorship.
“We need to consider the messages we’re sending our children,” said mother of three Karen Albertson. “Sure, I want my kids to enjoy Christmastime and have fun outside, but I don’t want them blindly believing that this time of year will always be cold and snowy, when in fact the temperature seems to be creeping up each year.
“One of the lines in the song goes ‘Baby, you’ll freeze out there.’ Come on — it’s 10 degrees Celsius! If anything he should be telling the girl to slap some sunscreen on before she gets melanoma.”
Climate change denier Ralph Sanderson said he loves the song, and its whole tone of “let’s just get drunk and not think about whether a ‘carbon footprint’ is a real thing.”
“I don’t believe in global warming, but I do believe in sitting by the fireplace and having a few drinks and forgetting about what’s going on outside your house,” explained Sanderson, who was listening to Bing Crosby’s “Let It Snow.”
“What’s so wrong with that?”