To ask what you feel about the complaints about Gavin and Stacey Christmas episode

[QueenViki]

Ness and Bryn were seen singing Fairytale of New York in the pub, which of course includes the word faggott (and also slut but nobody seems upset about that!). So there’s been complaints. I realise it’s a horrible word but in the context of the show it wasn’t intended in an offensive way and those characters aren’t known for being particularly politically correct. If the song is being played on the radio surely it will inevitably appear on tv unless it’s banned but then who decides what is allowed to be heard and what words we can and can’t deal with? Censorship always makes me a little uncomfortable but maybe some words need to be wiped out.

@Cryingoverspilttea

But it does! It might not to you but it does to many people. And its frequently used in as a derogatory slur against gay people. You can’t deny that. Just because it doesn’t mean that to you, doesn’t mean that others think it’s ok to use.

As I’ve said, I understand the context in the programme and the song AND IRL I’ve sung it drunkenly at karaoke in Brighton but to many people it’s offensive. I’m not offended but I find it very short sighted of others not to see someone else’s point of view.

@fedup21 lol I think you're right. I'm a lesbian and it didnt offend me at all.

I'd love to meet the kind of people that open up their emails or pick up their telephone on Christmas day to make a complaint about a tv show, genuinely!

I cringe every time Pam talks about ‘Big Fat Sue’.

But surely if people are offended by its use in the song, then we cant ever use the word faggots. Including on food packaging. Because neither are being used in an offensive context but people are still offended by it!

Well the song it's meant to be offensive but not about gay men

There have been a bit a dozen threads on this subject so I think people are going in circles a bit

Nessa didn’t sing it. Bryn sings it, she sings the male part and he sings the female part and I thought the whole joke was that he is actually gay and won’t say so, also everyone goes ‘oooh’ at him when he sings it so it shows that they recognise it isn’t the thing to say any more.

If Nessa had sung it I think it would have been different.

Faggot is/was Irish slang.

Whenever I ask Alexa to put faggots on my shopping list not only can't she say it but she spells it f***s.

I see it no different from the many other big TV shows who use potentially offensive slur.
Characters in the song. Characters on the show.

Using the term faggot or fag as a derogatory term for gay people is American really. I don’t think it really crossed over to here as an insult.

Are you the last person other than my father who still eats faggots @TroysMammy?

@Bloke23 not really any need to slag off an entire generation of people is there? People have always complained about what’s on telly, that’s not unique to one set of people.

I love Mr Brain's Faggots with mash and peas. As to the rest of it, I am more upset about IDS getting a knighthood. I said some offensive things about that.

What @FainaSnowChild said on P1.
I heard / saw that song on TotP2 twice this week, without knowing of any complaints. Am confused why characters (yup, remember Nessa is a fictional character) singing the same song at karaoke causes people to complain (wrongly, as has been explained upthread - if you know the context of the original song) would be worthy of a complaint
Again, as others have mentioned, the show's characters come out with all sorts of insensitive comments throughout, but most of us have the intelligence to realise they are portraying a character, and aren't suddenly going to hear it on a programme and suddenly start calling our acquaintances "Big Fat Sue" or "Japanese Margaret" because we heard it said on Gavin and Stacey.

FlamingoAndJohn living in South Wales I doubt it

Not offended, those are the lyrics. Enjoyed the show. Sometimes shows that return after a gap can be a disappointment. This wasn't.

I think in context it’s okay - they’re meant to be shitty people, the word is used in a different way by an older generation of Irish people (at least in my family - meant naughty or lazy in the way my grandad used it) and the fact it’s now a bad word was also acknowledged in the actual episode.

I can’t get too het up about it anymore than when we see racist characters use racial slurs, bad characters call women sluts or bitches or when we see behaviour “of its time” being displayed in historical dramas, language included.

In the song it's a man and woman who are splitting up and they are singing to each other, at least that's my interpretation so it's nothing to do with a gay person.

It's too many snowflakes in the world, that's what it is.

I’m offended at the tossers who are gurning about a word that the Irish use in a completely different context and meaning. If you are taking it as a homophobic insult when it means nothing of the sort, then that’s on you. Those that are completely missing the original context of this word, stop fucking forcing your English or American English translation onto Irish expressions. That’s really fucking xenophobic!

As a lesbian with several gay friends male and female. NOT ONE are offended by the song. The only people offended are straight people who like to get offended on our behalf. If the people who the slur is aimed at don’t care why should anyone else?

'Faggot' means useless. an old Irish term and used as such. Bearing in mind the song is 2 Irish alcoholic immigrants arguing with each other, then no way is faggot used in a homophobic way.
People thrive on being offended, get a life and help those that need it.

The real issue with the programme was that we were soooo close to finding out what happened on that fishing trip.....

And the ending......

On the off chance that either Ruth Jones or James Corden are on MN please write another series!!