Lyric Change - Fairytale Of New York

[Cloverjo]

Just heard this song on Magic FM and the line ‘You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy f a g g o t’ was changed to ‘.... you’re cheap and you’re haggard’

I’ve read that some radio stations are not playing the song because that line is “offensive to homosexuals”. Ok don’t play it. No need to announce it.
But changing the words? No!

Have any gay people actually been offended? The man referred to in the song is not gay anyway, so what’s that all about?

[Mozz71]

Its not the first well known 80's hit to have been edited for the use of the word. Dire Straits' Money For Nothing had the line "That little faggot got his own jet airplane, that little faggot, he's a millionaire". You never hear that line anymore.

Strangely, Costello's Oliver's Army still gets away with "One more widow, one less white n*gg*r". The context isn't insulting, but it's still a surprise that it survives.

[zebo]

//How come it has taken over 32 years for it now to be deemed offensive?//

Because in the last few years being offended has been elevated to an Olympic sport, if you're not offended then you're an 'ist', fill in the beginning of the word as necessary, rac, sex etc..

[ummmm]

No Zebo...it's been changed for years depending on who is playing it.

[woofgang]

apparently the NYPD Choir was formed because of the song

[woofgang]

I am wrong, no official choir but there is an unnofficial one https://www.irishmusicdaily.com/fairytale-of-new-york-unofficial-nypd-choir