“CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King came to the defense of the classic holiday song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” on Thursday, questioning her co-anchors whether the controversy surrounding the song’s lyrics meant America was losing its sense of humor.
{mosads}In a discussion about the song with fellow hosts Norah O’Donnell and John Dickerson, King remarked that she would get “hammered” on social media for her position while explaining that she viewed the song as light, flirtatious banter.
“We are losing our sense of humor nowadays,” King said, disagreeing with O’Donnell who had raised concerns about the original performance of the song.
“And I’m a big supporter and proponent of the #MeToo movement,” King continued. “But I just don’t think we have to nitpick every single little thing.”
“It’s a Christmas song that was written years ago, and you have to look at the intent of the song. And when you look at the intent of the song, to me, it’s a very flirtatious back-and-forth between the two of them. I think you can look at anything and read something in to it these days,” she added. “I just don’t think that was the case when they wrote that song.”
The Christmas classic was removed from the holiday playlist of a Cleveland radio station last week citing concerns from listeners who found the song’s lyrics to be offensive. In the duet, the female singer at one point remarks “say, what’s in this drink?” before going on to sing: “I simply must go… the answer is no.”
Some have pointed to those lyrics and others as unacceptable at a time when the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have forced many industries to reexamine sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
Sondra Miller, the president and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, told a local news station last week that the song’s lyrics “pushed the line of consent.”
“It really pushed the line of consent,” Miller told WGNTV. “The character in the song is saying ‘no,’ and they’re saying well, ‘does no really mean yes?’ and I think in 2018 what we know is consent is ‘yes’ and if you get a ‘no,’ it means ‘no’ and you should stop right there.”