Should ‘Does he ride a red-nosed reindeer?’ lyrics be banned?
A UK radio station has banned the Slade Christmas classic ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ because they say it promotes beastiality.
Boss of London’s Classic Hits Brian Taylor said the line ‘Does he ride a red-nosed reindeer?’ is clearly suggesting Santa Claus has inappropriate relations with Rudolf and he hopes other radio stations will follow his lead.
“This song was originally released in the 70s when filth was allowed to pollute the airwaves. Thankfully we now live in more civilised times when we can get stuff banned if we feel it’s offensive. We’ve come a long way.”
In 2020, bosses at the BBC sparked debate over The Pogues Christmas classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ when they changed the song’s most famous line to ”you’re cheap and you’re haggard’ after claiming the original lyrics contained a gay slur, somehow failing to realise that the man in song’s story isn’t gay.
We asked Brian Taylor if he’d consider allowing Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody back on the airwaves if the ‘offending’ line was changed.
“Well obviously the word ‘ride’ has to go. Yes I suppose that could work. Does he drive a red range rover maybe?”