USC professor explains origins of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' amid backlash in #MeToo era

LOS ANGELES -- The Christmas classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside" has been yanked off the airwaves from several radio stations in the era of #MeToo.

It all started when a radio station in Cleveland chose to ban the song and then others across the nation followed suit due to date rape undertones. But a USC professor with family ties to the composer, Frank Leosser, said it's all a big mistake.

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"My great uncle was the producer of 'Guys and Dolls," and 'How To Succeed in Business' and a variety of other Frank Leosser shows and was involved somehow in the creation of this song. I've heard this story since I was so little that I couldn't even sing," Karen North said.

The story, according to North, started when the composer and his wife would leave lavish Hollywood parties. Years later, it became a movie.

"In the movie, it was about a man pursuing a woman and a woman pursuing a man. It was sung in both directions. It was not about a male predator," North said.

Still people seem to have mixed reactions about the hit song - especially when hearing the line, "What's in this drink?"

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North said her uncle and others involved with the original song would likely not understand today's interpretation of the classic.

"He would want music to bring joy to people. I think he would be heartbroken that people think of this as a negative thing," she said.

She specifically addressed the "What's in this drink?" line, saying it's not about a date rape drug being put in a drink, it's about a woman's excuse because she's had too much to drink and is referring to alcohol.