BBC viewers furious as Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' LGBT lyrics cut from Comic Relief broadcast
Lady Gaga’s song ‘Born This Way’ has become a celebratory anthem for the LBGT community thanks to the song’s inclusive lyrics.
“No matter gay, straight, or bi / Lesbian, transgendered life / I'm on the right track baby / I was born to survive,” Gaga sings.
During the final of singing contest Let It Shine, the BBC cut the famed verse from the broadcast, upsetting some viewers who though the broadcaster was purposely not airing the lyrics.
Performing the song for Comic Relief’s talent show, Let’s Sing And Dance For Comic Relief, the cast of The One Show left out the same verse, once again angering viewers who thought the BBC may have learned from last time.
“Weeks after the BBC are slammed for cutting the gay lyrics in Born This Way, they... cut the gay lyrics in Born This Way,” one Tweeter wrote alongside a GIF of Angela Lansbury.
Another wrote: “What's with the missing out of the Lesbian, gay, bi and trans verse in born this way? that's twice now unacceptable”.
Weeks after the BBC are slammed for cutting the gay lyrics in Born This Way, they... cut the gay lyrics in Born This Way #LetsSingAndDance pic.twitter.com/tr6oZVYBME
— Jack Yeo (@jackryeo) 18 March 2017
What's with the missing out of the Lesbian, gay, bi and trans verse in born this way? that's twice now unacceptable @BBC #LetsSingAndDance
— Michelle Townsend (@sailortownsend) 18 March 2017
#LetsSingAndDance cuts out the Gay/Bi/Transgender life line out of Born This Way yet again 🙄 pic.twitter.com/r30gPOtB6I
— Chris! (@DigisectChris) 25 March 2017
So #LetsSingAndDance just took the whole point of born this way OUT OF BORN THIS WAY. They missed out
— ❄ pirate queen ❄ (@Bethany_roses) 18 March 2017
disgusted at the bbc for cutting born this way's lgbt lyrics #letssinganddance
— Charlie Watts (@charliewxyz) 25 March 2017
Nice job of cutting the lyrics about being LGBT out of Born This Way. Kind of the point of the whole song... #LetsSingAndDance
— Bethan (@todunsinane) 25 March 2017
Angelica Bell, Dominic Littlewood, Michelle Ackerley, Iwan Thomas and Alex Riley performed the song. The BBC responded by saying: “It is standard procedure to edit down music tracks to fit into the running time of the show.”
After the first incident, they issued a statement, reading: “All the tracks were edited for length, musical beats and crucially to ensure the boys each had a section to showcase. Therefore, typically sections came out of all of the songs performed for the show.
“In this case, to get a dance break in, we did what we often do which was to repeat the first chorus as opposed to putting in the second one, especially as in this version of the song we had a slow version of the first chorus.
“It made sense therefore musically in an edit, to go with a repeated chorus with a faster tempo the second time around.”