Radio 1 censors Christmas Classic

According to the Register and the BBC itself, BBC Radio 1 has taken on itself to partially censor the Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues and the late Kirsty MacColl.

The line is question is “You scumbag, you maggot you cheap lousy faggot, Happy Christmas your arse I pray God It’s our last”. Ironically, the BBC has chosen to censor ‘faggot’ in case it may offend anyone, but considers ‘arse’ to be acceptable.

Not being American, a faggot is either:

• a bundle of sticks or
• a meatball

so the British Broadcasting Corp is also pandering here to the American use of the word.

Hang on though, isn’t ‘Fairy’ also a derogatory term for homosexual? Shouldn’t they therefore change the title to ‘Tale of New York’ for fear of offending someone?

Interestingly, the ban does not apply to Radio 2, further showing how much Radio 1 has lost its way.

UPDATE

Radio 1 has now backed down.

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