The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that Dire Straits’ 1980s hit Money For Nothing is too offensive for Canadian radio. The ruling, released on Wednesday, was in response to a complaint against St. John’s radio station CHOZ-FM. The listener complained that the word faggot – which appears three times in the song is “extremely offensive” to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
The council is an independent body created by Canadian radio and television broadcasters to review the standards of their content. The award-winning song was the first single from Dire Straits’ album Brothers in Arms and has been an international music staple for 25 years.
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The council ruled that the song contravenes its ethics code which states: “broadcasters shall ensure that their programming contains no abusive or unduly discriminatory material or comment which is based on matters of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or physical or mental disability.”
It ruled that “faggot,” when used to describe a homosexual, is “even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so.”
The offending lyrics:
The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah, buddy, that’s his own hair
That little faggot’s got his own jet airplane
That little faggot, he’s a millionaire
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