Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing' song banned from Canadian radio
Fri. January 14, 2011 8:14 AM by GoPride.com News Staff
Vancouver -
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that the 1985 rock and roll hit "Money for Nothing" is too offensive to be played on Canadian radio.
The Dire Straits song, written by Mark Knopfler and Sting, includes these lines:
"The little f----t with the earring and the makeup
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair
That little f----t got his own jet airplane
That little f----t -- he's a millionaire."
The lyrics are meant to be from the perspective of a working man.
The song was number one on U.S. charts for three weeks in 1985, and was the group's most successful single.
The Vancouver Sun reports that a complaint was filed last February, after the song was played on the radio station CHOZ-FM. The complainant called the song "extremely offensive" to lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians.
The Broadcasting Standards Council ruled that "f----t... 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."
The Council also pointed out that there are other versions of "Money for Nothing" which use the word "mother" instead.
The Dire Straits song, written by Mark Knopfler and Sting, includes these lines:
"The little f----t with the earring and the makeup
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair
That little f----t got his own jet airplane
That little f----t -- he's a millionaire."
The lyrics are meant to be from the perspective of a working man.
The song was number one on U.S. charts for three weeks in 1985, and was the group's most successful single.
The Vancouver Sun reports that a complaint was filed last February, after the song was played on the radio station CHOZ-FM. The complainant called the song "extremely offensive" to lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians.
The Broadcasting Standards Council ruled that "f----t... 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."
The Council also pointed out that there are other versions of "Money for Nothing" which use the word "mother" instead.