'Baby It's Cold Outside' axed from US radio station's Christmas playlist

A radio station says it has stopped playing 'Baby, It’s Cold Outside' after listeners said the song heard on countless festive playlists is "inappropriate".

Star 102 Cleveland radio are not the first to question the song’s undertones and criticise the duet.

Many have cited where one singer tries to persuade the other to stay and their exchanges: "What’s in this drink?" and "Baby, don’t hold out", as unsuitable.

The song is a conversation involving a man trying to persuade his female guest not to take the journey home in bad weather, but to have another drink and spend the night with him.

It also features lyrics such as: "I simply must go (But baby it's cold outside) The answer is no (But baby it's cold outside)."

Glenn Anderson, a presenter at the Star 102 radio station, said in a blog that although the song was written in a different era, the lyrics felt "manipulative and wrong".

However, a poll on the station's Facebook page revealed most people did not want the song banned:

The song was written by Frank Loesser in 1944, and has been covered by music artists including Michael Bublé, James Taylor, Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews.

Actors Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel also sing "Baby It's Cold Outside" in the Christmas film Elf.

Mr Anderson added he doesn’t think the song has a place today, especially in the era of the MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

He said: "The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place."

He announced on the pop music station’s website last week the song would no longer be in its holiday music playlist.