It’s that time of year when you can’t listen to the radio or go into a shopping mall without hearing Christmas songs on repeat.
From old classics like 'White Christmas' by Bing Crosby to modern hits like 'Santa Tell Me' by Ariana Grande, it is truly December when these songs begin to get played again and again.
But, people are starting to question how some of the older classics are still allowed to be broadcast on the radio.
Take the iconic Christmas song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, which written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure and released all the way back in 1984.
The track came about as a charity benefit song, aiming to raise money to aid the famine crisis in Ethiopia.
Under the impressive Band-Aid ensemble, Geldof recruited many iconic musicians to feature on the record, including Sting, George Michael, Bono, and Boy George - to name a few.
However, the issue with the song is the lyrics that the stars were singing at the time.
Writer Indrajit Samarajiva broke down the song’s lyrics to explain why she believes the Christmas hit must be canceled.
Per her blog on Medium, Samarajiva calls out the song for its "ignorant" and "racist" lyrics against the continent of Africa and its people, saying: “It’s not just that these lyrics haven’t aged well. They were never good at all.
“They take an ignorant and colonial attitude, more about making white people feel good than helping anyone.” With lyrics such as:
“And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life (oooh)”
And then:
“Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?”
It can be interpreted that the entire continent of Africa is being generalized with lyrics that are actually factually incorrect.
As expressed by Samarajiva: “I mean, this is all wrong. It does snow in Africa, although not a lot.
“Food does in fact grow on the continent, they do have water, and North Africa, as part of the Roman Empire, was celebrating Christmas centuries before England.”
She continued: “You can say it’s all a metaphor, but what does the metaphor communicate? That Africa is a desolate, dark place which white men have to get together and save?”
And many Twitter users agree with Samarajiva, with many feeling uncomfortable that the problematic song is still being played on the radio.
One Twitter user urged their followers to “listen to the lyrics carefully and then complain to your radio station/ supermarket re: explicit racism [and] lack of Christmas spirit.”
Another Twitter user analyzed the lyric, ‘Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’, suggesting how “unchristian” the lyrics to the song were.
In response to another re-release of the song - this time produced and covered by YouTube star LadBaby - this Twitter user thinks the song should stay in the past.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas is one of the *worst* Christmas songs written. The lyrics are culturally insensitive, bordering on racism, and morally outrageous,” the comment read.
There is even a petition to get the song banned from radio stations on Change.org.
With other classic Christmas songs coming under fire for questionable lyrics including 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and 'Baby It’s Cold Outside' by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams, is it finally time for these problematic songs to move aside?
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