resend - BBC - Christmas song edit - PC madness?

[Steve Ordinetz]

>> Apparently, BBC’s Radio 1 program has cut
> out the word "faggot" from the song "Fairytale of New
> York," by the Irish band The Pogues and singer Kirsty MacColl.
>
>
> The song is a perennial Christmastime favorite
> in  – and arguably even here in the  on rock stations.
>
>


Guess my radio was broken that week, I've never heard of it.

Isn't "faggot" British slang for cigarette?  Maybe the Beeb is anti-smoking?

This certainly isn't without precedent.  Allan Sherman's "12 Gifts of
Christmas" had the word "naked" edited out of the line "statue of a naked
lady with a clock where her stomach used to be" on the Rhino greatest hits
album.  The song was intact on the original 45.  I have no idea who
considered this to be offensive.