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And Finally
Money For Nothing banned in Canada for homophobic lyrics
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 14 January 2011
Bad news for Canadian Dire Straits fans. Anyone? Well, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that one of the British band’s most famous songs, ‘Money For Nothing’, is just too darn offensive to play on the radio because the word ‘faggot’ appears three times in its lyrics. Though one radio station in Edmonton, K-97, last night vowed to play the track back to back for an hour to defy the ban.
The Council ruled on the song after a listener complained when Newfoundland radio station OZ FM played the track. The Council concurred that the song did, indeed, breach their rules because it “refers to sexual orientation in a derogatory way”.
Critisising the ruling, and justifying their decision to continue playing the song, K-97 Operations Manager Patrick Cardinal told reporters: “If you look at the context of the term, it’s an artistic portrayal of a bigoted person looking at the riches of the music industry. Our listeners absolutely support our right to play the song. If we get a CBSC complaint about it, we will vigilantly defend our right to play it”.
Who knew a Dire Straits pop record would need a radio edit made? Whoever gets to remove the ‘f’ word from the song might also want to alter other lines which have previously caused offence – “chicks for free” has been deemed sexist and “banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee” racist – though neither of those claims have been ruled on by a radio regulator.
