Who knew “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was an offensive Christmas song? Entercom’s WDOK in Cleveland has decided to pull the classic from its holiday rotation. Newsweek reports the station pulled the song after listener complaints over the song’s sexual harassment content.
The song was released in the 1940s and its about a woman singing she must leave a man’s home, but the man tries to convince her stay by blaming the weather. “I really can’t stay,” the woman sings. The man replies, “But baby, it’s cold outside.” The woman goes on to sing, “What’s in this drink? I simply must go…the answer is no.” “What’s the sense of hurtin’ my pride,” the man asks the woman in the song.
Midday host Desiray told WJW, “People might say, ‘Oh, enough with that #MeToo, but if you really put that aside and listen to the lyrics, it’s not something I would want my daughter to be in that kind of a situation. The tune might be catchy, but let’s maybe not promote that sort of an idea.’”
Newsweek quotes Sondra Miller, the President and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, who told WJW the organization supports the station’s decision to remove the song from the holiday rotation. “I think it’s taking a 2018 lens on a song that was written a very long time ago. It really pushed the line of consent. The character in the song is saying ‘no,’ and they’re saying well, ‘Does no really mean yes?’ and I think in 2018 what we know is consent is ‘yes’ and if you get a ‘no,’ it means ‘no’ and you should stop right there.”
