A student wants to remove the word ‘faggot’ from classic Christmas song Fairytale of New York because it’s a ‘homophobic slur’.

Thomas Haynes wrote an article for student newspaper The Tab and said the lyric from the festive favourite was as ‘bad as using the N-word’.

The publication’s assistant editor insisted people should stop singing the line ‘you cheap lousy faggot’ and there are a growing number of people who support his position.

Yesterday songwriter Shane McGowan said he didn’t mind if the word was bleeped.


The Pogues and Kristy McColl sing ‘you cheap lousy faggot’ in the Fairytale of New York (Picture: ThePoguesOfficial/YouTube)

Justin Myers wrote on his page The Guyliner in November: ‘I remember Christmas 1989, one of my very favourite school bullies striding down the aisle of the school bus shouting out that line, and timing the ‘faggot’ with a slap to the side of my head that made it bounce off the window.’

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Hayes echoed his calls and added that the line should be removed from YouTube because none of the Pogues or Kirsty McColl were gay.



He made his comments in an online article posted on Wednesday titled ‘Dear straight people, stop singing the word “faggot” in Fairytale of New York’.

He also posted a link to a six-year-old video of Gary Barlow performing the song with Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa and Dawn French, which he describes as ‘reeking of pre-2012’.

He writes: ‘The scene of a packed crowd cheering on a straight woman for successfully uttering a homophobic slur is f**king bulls**t.

‘The “faggot” line is predictably censored on radio, but that won’t stop straight people singing it at the top of their lungs when it comes on in the pub.

‘Only when you take a step back does something seem off with that picture in 2018.’

Thomas Haynes addressed ‘straight people’ in his article for student newspaper The Tab (Picture: SWNS)

The verse says: 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

Haynes goes on to argue members of LGBT community listening to the song could be reminded of a time they were bullied.

He concludes by saying: ‘This Christmas, give yourself the gift of not being an arsehole: When Fairytale of New York plays on your next night out, just don’t sing one word of it.

‘That’s all – one word, two syllables. Not too much of a stretch, right?’

Supporters of keeping in the controversial word claim songwriter Shane McGowan was referencing an old Irish slang word meaning a lazy person.

Others branded the Haynes as a ‘condescending millennial snowflake’ while one replied: ‘I’m gay and I sing it loud and proud.’

Yesterday McGowan addressed the controversy and said he didn’t want to get into an argument.

He didn’t explicitly say what the word was meant to convey but added: ‘The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character.

He asked people to avoid the word when singing along to the Christmas song (Picture: SWNS)

Many argued that Shane McGowan, lead singer of the Pogues is Irish and ‘Faggot’ is old Irish slang for a lazy person or a waster (Picture: SWNS)

‘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.’

He added: ‘If people don’t understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible then I am absolutely fine with the bleeping the word but I don’t want to get into an argument.’

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