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Pogues Frontman Shane MacGowan Responds to Calls for Anti-Gay Slur to Be Removed from ‘Fairytale of New York’

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Shane MacGowan, frontman of The Pogues, has responded to calls for the word “faggot” to be censored from the band’s 1987 Christmas song “Fairytale of New York” after a viral article stirred debate in Ireland and the UK.

Sing Kirsty MacColl and MacGowan to each other in the duet, meant to be a conversation between a couple: “You’re a bum / You’re a punk / You’re an old slut on junk / Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed / You scumbag, you maggot / You cheap lousy faggot / Happy Christmas your arse / I pray God it’s our last.”

Calls by Tom Haynes on the website The Tab for the slur to be removed from the song went viral earlier this week, prompting a response from MacGowan.

Wrote Haynes in his piece: ‘One Twitter user has even suggested an alternate line you could sing, and he’s not the first to start picking up on it. That being said, Twitter has always been ahead of the woke curve when it comes to nostalgic things being problematic – even Christmas songs – so it might be a fair while before Piers Morgan inevitably defends his right to call people faggots. Like the N-word, “faggot” has been dryly repurposed by the LGBT community as a term of endearment. This sort of thing depends on those not in that community nixing the word from their own vocabulary. Eminem has doubled back on his once frequent use of it, there’s a scene in Glee where Kurt’s Dad kicks off at Finn for using it, all of which paint a progressive picture. But Dawn French begging to sing it doesn’t fit into the picture so well. For some, “faggot” is just another weapon turned against homophobes, a way to way to snigger at “the straights” being bone-headed and ignorant. But for others it will always evoke very specific memories of being bullied either online or in real life, or having to listen to their mates band it about as an insult. For certain members of the LGBT community, that one word might have screwed over their entire coming out process. Regardless, whether your gay mate gets annoyed over you singing it to him at 1am isn’t up to you, but whether or not you chose to sing it is.’

MacGowan says that it wasn’t meant to be homophobic: “The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character. She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate. Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend! She is just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively.”

DJs for Ireland’s largest station, RTÉ, have weighed in.

RTÉ DJ Eoghan McDermott has called for the track to be censored: “This debate rolls around again. I asked the two gay members of my team how they feel, since faggot is their N word. If people want to slur the gay community, this is their most powerful weapon. One favours censoring, the other outright not playing it. Neither like it. Simples. Phrases that have zero social utility should fall away. Enough vitriol out there without gay people having to feel uncomfortable so people that aren’t affected by an insult can tap their toe. Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get Retarded” changed to “Let’s Get It Started” – rightly so. Nobody complained. The fact this song is a classic isn’t a strong enough defense to not at least censor it. We censor shit, fuck, ass, weed and loads of other comparatively benign words in songs. It’s not a big ask.”

Fellow DJ Stephen Byrne weighed in as well: “Re: Fairytale of New York and its use of the word faggot. Just bleep the word, I dare you the same reaction to fuck, shit, cunt, and the n word in the way that people protect the use of a homophobic slur with the excuse of ‘tradition’. For some its literally a word that can slice open a wound that bleeds memories of real life and online bullying, possibly times linked into someone’s coming out, for me memories of feeling left behind on a football pitch. I was in a club the other day and they played that song, I stood in a room as over 200 people screamed a word thats been used to make me feel like an outsider, with such joy and cheer. For context, look at this clip of Dawn French, Gary Barlow, and peeps. Dawn misses that part so they go back and give her her moment. The scene of a packed crowd cheering on a straight woman for successfully uttering a homophobic slur is that part of the song all over. In all though, thats just my reason that I feel hurt by it. People can do and say what they want, I hate the lack of appreciation for why it hurts people more than the actual lack of censorship of the actual word. I’m a big boy.”

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