'Homophobic' Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing banned from radio... 26 years after its release

Daily Mail ^ | 01/14/2011 | Liz Thomas

[SeekAndFind]

It may be a classic rock song but 26 years after it was first released Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing has been banned from radio.

The song was ruled too offensive for the airwaves in Canada because it contains the word 'f****t' and can now no longer be played in its original form.

Any station that wants to play the song will have to edit it or disguise the word, according to ruling by the Canadian Broadcasts Standards Council.

The decision came after a listener complained that the broadcast of unedited version of the song – which mentions the word three times – was 'extremely offensive' to gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

The songs second verse contains the offensive word three times. It says: ‘The little 'f****t' with the earring and the makeup. Yeah, buddy, that’s his own hair'

‘That little 'f****t's' got his own jet airplane. That little 'f****t' he’s a millionaire'.

The entire verse is edited out of some versions of the song, or the word is simply replaced.

The council concluded that 'f****t'. when used to describe a homosexual man, is a word 'that, even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so.'

'The societal values at issue a quarter century later have shifted and the broadcast of the song in 2010 must reflect those values, rather than those of 1985.'

Co-written in 1985 by Mark Knopfler and Sting, Money For Nothing is penned from the perspective of a working class man who spends his time watching music videos and comments on what he sees.

In an interview with Rolling Stone around the time the song was released Knopfler said: ‘I got an objection from the editor of a gay newspaper in London - he actually said it was 'below the belt.'

[tutstar]

gnip

[little jeremiah]

Placemerk.

[raccoonradio]

Waters admits it in latest book

[PA Engineer]

'The societal values at issue a quarter century later have shifted and the broadcast of the song in 2010 must reflect those values, rather than those of 1985.'

Yeah. Censorship versus Freedom.

[Gene Eric]

The Left is burning books.

[Redcloak]

I'm guessing that possession of a Blazing Saddles DVD carries the death penalty in Canuckistan these days.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

Why would he need to admit it? It’s rather obvious!(He’s rather creepy as well).

[Calamari]

I know that but there was still a big flap about it. Banned from a lot of high school dances and sock hops back in the day by the “authorities” of the day—parents and school principals.

[betty boop]

Can anybody still sing the song — Deck the Halls: “Don we now our GAY apparel” without thinking of something else?

Well if anybody were actually brain-dead enough, possibly so.

But such, of course, would represent the public triumph of the institutionalized abuse of the English adjective, "gay" — which evidently in recent times has been tortured into function as a noun.

This maneuver requires that any connection between "gay" and "suffering" are mutually exclusive....

Your thoughts, SeekandFind? Thank you so very much for writing!

[Alamo-Girl]

But such, of course, would represent the public triumph of the institutionalized abuse of the English adjective, "gay" — which evidently in recent times has been tortured into function as a noun.

Indeed. Thank you for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ!

[MikeD]

Dire Straits recorded an “edited” version that said “Little Queenie” instead. Since “Little Queenie” is also the title of an old Chuck Berry song, I’m sure that was OK.