TORONTO – Canada’s radio censor has overturned its earlier ban on Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” song playing on local airwaves.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council reviewed a January 2011 decision by its Atlantic Canada panel on the1980s Dire Straits hit song.
That decision concluded the use of the anti-gay slur “faggot” three times in its lyrics breached industry codes on human rights.
In its latest ruling, the CBSC said the Atlantic censors were correct in deeming the word “faggot” innappropriate for broadcast on Canadian airwaves in some cases.
But this was not one of those cases.
“… There may be circumstances in which even words designating unacceptably negative portrayal may be acceptable because of their contextual usage. The ad hoc National Panel finds this is one such occasion,” the CBSC’s national panel concluded.
That decision will open the way for Canadian radio stations to continue to play the Dire Straits song without the threat of industry sanction.
Ruling a British pop song that had not aired widely on Canadian radio for a quarter-century was inappropriate struck a chord among Canadians quick to criticize political correctness and the Nanny State.
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