The Holderness Family rewrites 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' for 2018 in viral video
The Holderness Family has a simple solution to the debate over what to do with holiday classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the age of #MeToo: tweak the lyrics.
The viral video stars, known for their parodies, such as “All About That Baste” and “Baby Got Class,” are back with “Baby, Just GO Outside,” which features dad Penn Holderness, wearing a festive blazer and singing in front of a retro microphone and a Christmas tree, singing with a woman who’s off-camera.
Some of the lyrics:
“I really can’t stay…”
“OK, you’re free to go.”
“I’ve got to go away.”
“Understood. No means no.”
“This evening has been…”
“Super appropriate.”
At one point, Holderness even encourages the woman to text her mom. He tells her, “You are in control of this thing.”
In the seven hours after it was posted Monday morning, the clip generated 13 million views on Facebook. Viewers raved about the updated version of the tune, with one fan noting that it was a version that could be shared with daughters. Another commenter hailed the video as “THE INTERNET WINNER FOR 2018… and 2019!”
“Nailed it. But only consensually,” one commenter cracked.
When another fan pointed out that the singer probably shouldn’t have used the word “baby” at all — “His line should have been ‘Maybe, just go outside,'” she noted — Holderness agreed. “YES! You are so right, I’m having one of those George constanta realizing-the-joke-on-the-way-home moments.”
The original version of the song, written in 1944, is being scrutinized for its lyrics and in some cases yanked from radio stations because of the scene it depicts and the questions it raises about consent. In it, the woman sings lines such as, “The answer is no” and “Say, what’s in this drink?”
But not everyone’s against the song. A San Francisco radio station is reconsidering whether to shelve it after receiving backlash for its decision. CBS This Morning host Gayle King defended the tune on the air Thursday.
“I want to say to people — it was a Christmas song that was written years ago. I think you have to look at the intent of the song and when you look at the intent, to me, it’s a very flirtatious back-and-forth between the two of them,” said King, adding that she thinks today’s audiences are reading something that wasn’t intended into the lyrics.
Susan Loesser, daughter of the song’s author, Frank Loesser, told NBC News on Thursday that she blames Bill Cosby for changing attitudes about her dad’s holiday classic.
“Bill Cosby ruined it for everybody,” Loesser said, alluding to the actor’s April conviction for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand after slipping a drug into her drink and the accusations from dozens more women that he did the same to them. “Way before #MeToo, I would hear from time to time people call it a date rape song. I would get annoyed because it’s a song my father wrote for him and my mother to sing at parties. But ever since Cosby was accused of drugging women, I hear the date rape thing all the time.”
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