The "homophobic slur" in the 'Fairytale of New York' lyrics is dividing the internet again

7 December 2018, 17:36 | Updated: 10 December 2018, 13:09

People are divided over the 'Fairytale in New York' lyrics.
People are divided over the 'Fairytale in New York' lyrics. Picture: Amazon UK/Pogue Mahone/Pinterest
Jazmin Duribe

By Jazmin Duribe

Here we go again.

Another year, another round of problematic Christmas songs are being debated on the internet. This year a familiar foe has come up yet again, 'Fairytale in New York'. The popular Celtic rock tune has been accused of having "homophobic" lyrics and people have called for it to be banned.

The song – which was released in 1987 by The Pogues – goes: "You scumbag, you maggot// You cheap lousy faggot." Now, this debate heats up annually but this year one student brought it to attention again in an essay, in which he claimed that singing the lyric would be just as bad as using the N-word. Meanwhile, Irish DJ Eoghan McDermott called on his radio station RTE to censor the word, because it made gay people feel uncomfortable.

However, others believe that the word isn't used in an offensive context, which can also be used to describe a person that is lazy. The Pogues frontman Shane McGowan confronted the Christmas anthem backlash in a statement.

Nonetheless, people believe the word should be censored across all platforms or banned altogether.

But others insisted the word meant something else and it was from a different time.

Now is probably not the best time to mention the other messy lyrics in the track, which include the mention of "an old slut on junk".

What do you think? Tweet us @popbuzz and let us know!