A member of the Parliamentary Security participates in the daily Speakers Parade on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 30, 2018.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
December 04, 2018 - 10:30 AM
TORONTO - "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is getting a chilly response from Canadian radio stations.
At least two of the country's biggest radio operators — Rogers and Bell Media — say they've decided to pull the controversial Christmas favourite out of their rotations this year.
That comes as the duet, written back in 1944, faces renewed scrutiny over what some say are inappropriate lyrics in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Earlier this week, Cleveland radio station WDOK-FM announced it stopped playing the song in response to listener feedback. Some took issue over lyrics where one singer is trying to persuade the other to stay inside, with exchanges that include, "What's in this drink?" and "Baby, don't hold out."
Bell Media spokesman Scott Henderson says the company, which runs two 24-hour Christmas stations in Vancouver and Ottawa, didn't include the Christmas tune on its playlists this year. But it also told stations it doesn't plan to reintroduce the song in the future.
Rogers runs a number of all-Christmas music stations, including 98.1 CHFI-FM in Toronto and 98.5 6.7 CIOC-FM in Victoria.
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News from © The Canadian Press, 2018