
While it’s not quite time to crack open the eggnog, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson are already starting to spread the Christmas spirit with their festive new duet: a revamped take on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
Last year the Oscar-winning holiday classic — written in 1944 by Frank Loesser and sung by the likes of Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and countless others — was banned from some radio station playlists after its lyrics were deemed “no longer appropriate,” as Cleveland’s Star 102 employee Glenn Anderson put it. The song features a male voice urging his female date to stick around and get “closer” despite her protests that she “really can’t stay.” While she sings “I ought to say no, no, no,” he responds, “What’s the sense in hurting my pride?”
The lack of consent implied has proved problematic in the #MeToo era, prompting Legend to team up with Insecure actress and writer Natasha Rothwell on tweaking the lyrics to give the female protagonist more agency and control. Her date is also more passive and less pushy.
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