The first day of December means radio stations all over the world are infusing holiday tunes into their daily track list.

But at one Ohio station, a notable Christmas classic has been nixed in light of the Me Too movement.

According to local media reports, listeners complained to Star 102 Cleveland that Baby It’s Cold Outside was inappropriate. The radio station announced it would be pulling the song earlier this week.

The move comes despite a majority of listeners saying they wanted the song to be played in a poll conducted on the radio station’s Facebook page.

In a blog post on the station’s website, show host Glenn Anderson said that he didn’t understand the decision himself until after reading the lyrics to Frank Loesser’s 1944 hit.

The song, which won an Oscar in 1950 for Best Original Song and was featured in Neptune’s Daughter, plays like a conversation between a man trying to persuade his female guest to stay with him for the night, instead of risk the journey home in the cold depths of winter.

The song features the opening lyrics, “I really can’t stay – Baby it’s cold outside, I’ve got to go away – Baby it’s cold outside.”

Other lyrics include:

”I ought to say no, no, no – Mind if I move in closer?

At least I’m gonna say that I tried – What’s the sense in hurting my pride?”

Anderson said “it was a different time” when the song was first written. It has gone on to be covered by Lad Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton and was featured in the movie Elf.

“But now while reading it, it seems very manipulative and wrong,” Anderson said.

“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.”

@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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