December 19, 2007 9:52

U-turn in Pogues Christmas censorship battle

'Fairytale In New York' will now be played in full

BBC Radio 1 have reversed their decision to censor The Pogues Christmas favourite ’Fairytale In New York’.

The station had previously edited the song to remove the word “faggot” from its lyrics, bringing condemnation from fans and Jean MacColl, mother of the late singer Kirsty, who sung the offending line of the 1987 hit.

This was despite the fact that other stations in the network, including Radio 2, were playing the song uncensored.

However Radio 1 have now gone back on its decision to omit the word with controller Andy Parfitt explaining: "After careful consideration, I have decided that the decision to edit The Pogues song ’Fairytale Of New York’ was wrong."

Although fans of the song objected to the censorship, some had backed the decision, with gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell claiming that the “abusive context” of the word’s use in the song was “unacceptable”.