steyr_m
13th January 2011, 07:57 PM
Who would have thought? 25 years after making "Money For Nothing", it's now being censored. Hope this isn't a re-post...
Ontario radio boss torn on Straits ban
CHATHAM, Ont. - A classic rock song that hit the airwaves more than 25 years ago is making noise yet again — and it's not Mark Knopfler's guitar intro.
After a complaint from a listener in Newfoundland, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that "Money for Nothing," by the British band Dire Straits, violates the code of ethics due to the use of the word "faggot."
The 1985 song's second verse contains the offensive word three times:
"The little faggot with the earring and the makeup/Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair/That little faggot's got his own jet airplane/That little faggot, he's a millionaire."
Now the song will either have to be edited or not played in its original form.
Mark Reinhart, a director with Chatham-Kent Pride, said on Thursday he's happy that there's conversation about gay rights.
"It's a pretty huge indicator of where the LGBT movement has come since the 80s," he said. "That means it's on people's agendas."
He said the word is polarizing within the community between those who hate it, and those who wish to reclaim the term.
Although he said the song perpetuates a stereotype, Reinhart admitted he was torn on the decision to ban it.
"I kind of want to have free speech in the ideal sense, but at the same time I know there are people who would object to having that played," he said. "I wouldn't say that I'm offended, I think because I try to engage with it."
The CBSC, which rules on radio and television broadcast complaints, is a self-governing regulatory body for Canada's private broadcasters.
A review of rulings posted on its website shows that several complaints on language, such as swearing or the use of the name Jesus Christ as an expletive, have been ruled acceptable.
Decisions on content by the council are binding on members.
The recent ruling comes as Americans debate over censoring Mark Twain's literary classic "Huckleberry Finn" for racist words.
Reinhart said the political left and right try to censor in different ways, depending on the issue.
"It's funny, because a lot of the leftists kind of want to have free speech all the time, and then this is kind of coming back in the face," he said. "It makes you think about how free do I want my speech or other people's speech to be?
"That debate is better than no debate. That's for sure."
"Money for Nothing" is not the first that CBSC has censored. The decision references an earlier ruling on the song "Boyz in the Hood" by Dynamite Hack, which was deemed to have lyrics that were too violent towards women.
Some Chatham-Kent music fans believed the latest ban goes too far.
"I think that's a little bit much," Rick Butler said. "I can see it offending someone who's gay to a degree, but I think they're being overly sensitive.
"But if the guy wrote the song now, he probably wouldn't have used that word."
Gord Mellow said the music is what matters and that the edited version is fine with him.
"I don't like the word," he said. "(But) the lyrics aren't important to me."
Tricia Hearn couldn't believe the song was being debated.
"It's been here for how long?" she said. "I think people take things too personally."
Hearn said she's friends with gay people and not against them in any way.
She said censorship advocates can get ridiculous at times, mentioning criticism of the children's show "Teletubbies," which some religious groups believed featured a gay character.
"People need to realize not everything is a dig at somebody else," she said.
- With files from QMI Agency
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2011/01/13/16881551.html
Ontario radio boss torn on Straits ban
CHATHAM, Ont. - A classic rock song that hit the airwaves more than 25 years ago is making noise yet again — and it's not Mark Knopfler's guitar intro.
After a complaint from a listener in Newfoundland, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that "Money for Nothing," by the British band Dire Straits, violates the code of ethics due to the use of the word "faggot."
The 1985 song's second verse contains the offensive word three times:
"The little faggot with the earring and the makeup/Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair/That little faggot's got his own jet airplane/That little faggot, he's a millionaire."
Now the song will either have to be edited or not played in its original form.
Mark Reinhart, a director with Chatham-Kent Pride, said on Thursday he's happy that there's conversation about gay rights.
"It's a pretty huge indicator of where the LGBT movement has come since the 80s," he said. "That means it's on people's agendas."
He said the word is polarizing within the community between those who hate it, and those who wish to reclaim the term.
Although he said the song perpetuates a stereotype, Reinhart admitted he was torn on the decision to ban it.
"I kind of want to have free speech in the ideal sense, but at the same time I know there are people who would object to having that played," he said. "I wouldn't say that I'm offended, I think because I try to engage with it."
The CBSC, which rules on radio and television broadcast complaints, is a self-governing regulatory body for Canada's private broadcasters.
A review of rulings posted on its website shows that several complaints on language, such as swearing or the use of the name Jesus Christ as an expletive, have been ruled acceptable.
Decisions on content by the council are binding on members.
The recent ruling comes as Americans debate over censoring Mark Twain's literary classic "Huckleberry Finn" for racist words.
Reinhart said the political left and right try to censor in different ways, depending on the issue.
"It's funny, because a lot of the leftists kind of want to have free speech all the time, and then this is kind of coming back in the face," he said. "It makes you think about how free do I want my speech or other people's speech to be?
"That debate is better than no debate. That's for sure."
"Money for Nothing" is not the first that CBSC has censored. The decision references an earlier ruling on the song "Boyz in the Hood" by Dynamite Hack, which was deemed to have lyrics that were too violent towards women.
Some Chatham-Kent music fans believed the latest ban goes too far.
"I think that's a little bit much," Rick Butler said. "I can see it offending someone who's gay to a degree, but I think they're being overly sensitive.
"But if the guy wrote the song now, he probably wouldn't have used that word."
Gord Mellow said the music is what matters and that the edited version is fine with him.
"I don't like the word," he said. "(But) the lyrics aren't important to me."
Tricia Hearn couldn't believe the song was being debated.
"It's been here for how long?" she said. "I think people take things too personally."
Hearn said she's friends with gay people and not against them in any way.
She said censorship advocates can get ridiculous at times, mentioning criticism of the children's show "Teletubbies," which some religious groups believed featured a gay character.
"People need to realize not everything is a dig at somebody else," she said.
- With files from QMI Agency
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2011/01/13/16881551.html