Or is this really melodramatic??

[paulhollywoodshairgel]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2019/12/26/gavin-and-stacey-christmas-special-fairytale-of-new-york-lgbt-hate-speech-11961730/amp/

This has really rattled my cage!!! A tad over the top I think..

But the comedy writers did not write the song!

I saw a great Tweet that said all that scene needed to redeem it was Nessa saying over that line, "oh, I don't feel comfortable with that word you know" - and it's true. That would have been kind of funny (Nessa, bolshy as hell, subverting her selfish/gives no fucks persona and being a bit 'woke')

Being 'woke' is not everyone's aim in life - it certainly is not mine as it is a harmful and intolerant outlook on life where differeing views are touted as hate speech. You can keep your wokeness thanks.

And yes, you sarcastic bastard, I do have 'the critical faculties' to recognise that they're playing characters. If I play a character and then go round shouting racist things at non-white people and then get arrested for a hate crime, can I just tell the police it's a character?

And so now the abuse. It's almost like a script isn't it? Disagree and it's hate speech, disagree again and get abuse.

And you equate a word in a song to shouting racist abuse at people in the street, right? Plot lost my friend.

'Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay'

It's endemic

I expect the majority of people who are "outraged" by the usage of the word aren't even members of the LGBT community.

Rather, they are being offended on behalf of a group that they are not even in - which seems to be SO common these days.

It's like racism. People get so worked up about it, and I asked my friend (who is black) once whether he gets upset depending on which word people use to describe his colour - and he says it all depends on the intent behind it. If people use it as an insult, yes, but if it's just a way to describe him, no. Because it is a very distinctive feature of his, as we live in a small village and he is literally the only black man I know who has ever lived there. He said that most people go OTT over racism, and you don't see half as many black people complaining as you do white people.

That's a problem isn't it, Claires - that you fundamentally think that saying something racist is worse than saying something homophobic?

What about if I sing a song with a racist term in, is that okay?

And yes, I know the comedy writers didn't write the song, but they did write the scene in which the song was used, when there are, according to Smooth FM, 2139923921019289129200210201021 other Christmas songs available, and I can't believe for a second that nobody on a cast and crew and production team of ...what, at least 100 people, said 'um, this is a bit off?'. And so someone deliberately made the choice to keep it in. That's what I find offensive - not that it exists at all, as you said it was written to be part of a character in a song, a good few years back now, but that people persist in playing it and using that word as part of that, despite now knowing it's offensive and hurtful.

That's a problem isn't it, Claires - that you fundamentally think that saying something racist is worse than saying something homophobic?

Nope. But I think that a person running around the street shouting racist insults at people is much worse than hearing a word in a song. You described the scenario and drew the comparison, not me.

And it is fine to be offended - be offended because it is your right if that's how you feel.
It does not offend me in the same way.

It’s really important to talk about ‘slut’ as a slur in the same context as ‘faggot’ on this one - because there does seem to be a serious want for people to be offended by one and not the other.

I, and I imagine many other pp on this thread, have been called ‘slut’ as a derogatory slur due to our birth sex. I don’t see how any woman can be offended by a homophobic slur but not fussed by a misogynistic one (and this is directed to your DD too, OP).

Either accept that the song is a essentially a story written at a different time and leave it be, or target all the offensive slurs.

FWIW, my opinion is that none of it should be censored.

Sorry, not OP. First PP!

It's lyrics from a song that's about 30 yrs old, it was on a comedy show, it wasn't used to insult or take the piss out of anyone or any group of people, im amazed you can use the word queer in an acronym

And you think having that word used against you for years by homophobes, some of whom want to hurt or kill you, and many of whom don't accept your basic right to love who you want, isn't a good reason?

I hear lots of words that have been used by misogynists for years against women and against me, some of whom want to hurt or kill me, and many of whom don't accept my basic right to be me. So, no, it's not a good reason. Not until you ban all slurs against women. Including slut. HTH.

I can distinguish between a word directed at me and words directed by a given character against women.
If I watch a movie where a character insults a woman, I'm not going to try and ban that movie. As I'm not up in arms about songs who use words that are insulting to women.

The song is someone calling another a faggot, as there is someone calling the other back a slut.
It's not calling gay men faggots or calling women sluts. That's the difference.

It's not even a character to be admired in any way, and the song is very clear about it.

It's also a song that Nessa would definitely sing, so it's very true to character.
Can't see her singing White Christmas, does anyone?

Honeyloops said: "IF YOUR HUMOUR RELIES ON ABUSING MARGINALISED GROUPS, MAYBE IT'S JUST NOT FUCKING FUNNY."

I agree. However, this was not some stand up comedian telling racist or homophobic jokes, this was a comedy featuring two characters singing an old song that happens to have a word in that you would rather they didn't use. You are overreacting massively.

Honeyloops also said: "Also, if 'I'd prefer it if you didn't say a word that is a symbol of hatred and oppression towards people like me' makes you hate the gays, maybe you've got a little homophobia problem, @Defenbaker. "

@honeyloops - I do not have a "homophobia problem". You're the one with the problem - you seem to lack critical thinking skills and be determined to take offence where none was intended. Somebody on the telly sang a song with a word you didn't like, and now you're acting like they came up to you and shouted it in your face. Life must be very stressful for you, having such a mindset. Here, have a

Peppapeppapeppapeppa:

" 'Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay'

It's endemic."

@Peppapeppapeppapeppa - you do realise that you've just massively offended Yuletide, right? Because apparently Yuletide is defo straight, despite being associated with sparkly balls, fairies and pantomime dames. Nothing remotely gay about any of that.

Jesus wept, how many times? It is not being used as a gay slur, it means dirty tramp 🙄
Tell your multilettered DD not to be so easily offended and educate herself a bit.

I think you are wasting your breath. So many people spend their lives being determined to be offended, and why let the truth get in the way of it?

Why is "queer" suddenly ok then, because some young people have decided it is?

That was just as bad an insult as faggot a few years ago but now they slap the label everywhere, even on lesbians who don't want it.

I'm curious as to why if the author was so offended by the use of the word that he had to write an article about it, did he continue to watch until the end of the episode?

If I'm watching something that offends me in some way I'll either turn it off or leave the room.

Not sure why people have to label themselves all thr time and announce it on social media as though the rest of the world gives a shit

Anther thing ruined by the pc brigade gone mental

I'm glad they kept it in. It's a great song and just, as others have said, a tale of two drunks arguing and hurling insults at each other. No harm is intended towards an entire community and it's infuriating that the PC brigade feel the need to read so much into things and make such a fuss over nothing.