After two decades of airplay, the BBC
just noticed that the Pogues' classic Christmas jam "Fairytale Of New York" has a naughty word tucked into it—you know, the one singer Kirsty MacColl rhymes with "maggot"—and has excised it in order to keep its audience from fainting or getting the vapors or whatever uptight British people do when aghast. Naturally, many of the song's millions of fans think the Beeb is being a bit silly, including the late MacColl's mum, who pulled out the Mark Knopfler defense to put Radio 1 on blast.
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Idolator
The occasionally reliable NME reports today that Simon Cowell is kicking around the idea of purchasing England's venerable Top of the Pops brand, which was largely abandoned by the BBC in 2006. While even the idea of a television show on a major network featuring "live" music from chart-topping acts (and nationalized health insurance) fills me with this-side-of-the-ocean jealousy, I have to wonder what a Cowell-captained TOTP would look like.
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So it turns out BBC's Radio 1 isn't gonna bleep (or "fade out," whatever) the word "faggot" in the Pogues' "Fairytale Of New York" after all. Gay rights folks are already calling the move hypocritical, however: "I doubt that the BBC would take the same relaxed attitude if this song included the n-word, or abusive language like 'Paki' or 'yid'." [