"Baby It's Cold Outside" Controversy: Composer's Daughter Reacts

The daughter of the composer of "Baby It's Cold Outside" blames Bill Cosby for the song's falling out of favor.

Susan Loesser [pr: LESS-er] tells NBC News, "Cosby ruined it for everybody... Way before #Me Too, I would hear from time to time people call it a date rape song."

Those accusations bother her since Frank Loesser -- who also crafted "Heart and Soul," "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" and "Standing on the Corner" -- wrote it to perform with his wife Lynn Garland at parties. "But ever since Cosby was accused of drugging women, I hear the date rape thing all the time."

She understands why the line, "Say, what's in this drink?" rubs some people wrong. But Loesser counters that the song should be judged in the context of it was written -- 1944. "People used to say 'what’s in this drink' as a joke. You know, this drink is going straight to my head so what’s in this drink? Back then it didn’t mean you drugged me."

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" was introduced in the 1949 movie Neptune’s Daughter and sung by Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams.


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