Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council released a ruling on a complaint made by a member of the public February 1st, 2010 that said the lyrics to the Dire Straits song Money for Nothing, which contains the word “faggot” was discriminatory to gays, and the Globe and Mail reports Thursday that the CBSC has agreed, saying the song contravenes the human rights clause of the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. The song, which appears on the band’s 1895 album Brothers in Arms, and whose accompanying video was considered to be at the vanguard of the then nascent industry, was aired on CHOZ-FM in St John’s, Newfoundland, which, unedited, contains the following verse:
The little faggot with the earring and the make-up
Yeah, buddy, that’s his own hair
That little faggot’s got his own jet airplane
That little faggot, he’s a millionaire
The complainant wrote that “A song was aired, “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits, and included the word “faggot” a total of three times. I am aware of other versions of the song, in which the word was replaced with another, and yet OZ FM chose to play and not censor this particular version that I am complaining about. I find this extremely offensive as a member of the LGBT community and feel that there is absolutely no valid reason for such discriminatory marks to be played on-air.” .” In its defence, OX-FM noted that the song had been played on the station countless times, and that its mainstream acceptance was evidenced by the multiple industry merits it earned, including the 1986 Grammy for Record of the Year. In rendering its ruling, the CBSC noted that words historically evolve, and that “some words once possibly viewed as acceptable from a broadcasting perspective, even if not in good taste, have merged into a category of unacceptable usage.”
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