January 14, 2011 | Arts / Entertainment

1980s hit song too offensive for Canada

The original version of "Money For Nothing," the Dire Straits' hit single from 1985, has been declared too offensive for broadcast by the The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. The issue is the use of the word 'faggot.'

The Vancouver Sun reported that, “The ruling, released Wednesday, responded to a complaint submitted to St. John's radio station CHOZ-FM over a Feb. 1 (2010) airing of an unedited version of the song, which mentions the word three times.”

The council says that in the 25 years since the song came out, social values and sensibilities have changed. In today's society, the use of 'faggot' in a song, even a old song, is simply not tolerable.

“The council concluded that ‘fa**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,’” reported the Sun.

Helen Kennedy, of gay rights group Egale Canada, agrees with the decision. "I think it's extremely important to take these words out of lyrics in popular culture," Kennedy said. "It perpetuates the stereotype, it's negative and it's offensive. If you look to the origin of the word, it's disgusting."

In the case of this particular song, the character using the word "faggot" is an ignoramous and his use of the term underlines what a jerk he is. The Council seems to have given no weight to the context. 

We can hardly wait for the Canadian edition of  "Tom Sawyer."

Dire Straits' song should be censored, council rules [CTV]