The National Debate of the Week focused on Fairytale of New York, and whether the word 'faggot' should be bleeped from the song when it is played on air. RTE presenter Eoghan McDermott started the debate amid the context of Baby It's Cold Outside being dropped from the playlists of numerous radio stations.
I asked the two gay members of my team how they feel since faggot is their n-word. If people want to slur the gay community, this is their most powerful weapon. One favours censoring, the other outright not playing it. Neither like it. Simple.
The fact this song is a classic isn't a strong enough defence to not at least censor it. We censor shit, fuck, ass, weed and loads of other comparatively benign words in songs. It's not a big ask.
There followed a back-and-forth lasting days as to whether the word should be censored on air, which caused Shane McGowan to release a statement to Virgin Media, and stress the context within which the word is used in the song.
The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character. She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate.
Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend! She is just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively.
If people don't understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible then I am absolutely fine with them bleeping the word but I don't want to get into an argument.
Among those to weigh in on the debate is rugby referee Nigel Owens, who has been an outstanding ambassador for LGBTQ involvement in professional sport. Owens said that those taking offence at the use of the word in its context is a kind of "stupidity".
Seriously now if we dont stand up to this stupidity then society is broken. The world has gone PC mad. If your so easliy offended by something then dont bloody listen to it and switch it off or change channels. #STOPTHISPCMADNESS. I will be listening to this song every day now.
And the simple solution to this PC madness is lets us all sensible people stop listening to any platform that censors this song. They will then realise how bloody stupid they will have been.
Seriously now if we dont stand up to this stupidity then society is broken. The world has gone PC mad. If your so easliy offended by something then dont bloody listen to it and switch it off or change channels. #STOPTHISPCMADNESS. I will be listening to this song every day now https://t.co/G015FjiAWo
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) December 8, 2018
